Amaterasu's Absolution
by xfang-girlx
Summary: There is no way she is able to change her past actions. By forgiving him, she will have the chance to change the future. However, is it truly forgiveness if she cannot forget? Sequel to Susanoo's Stratagem.
1. The First Year

**A/N: **The sequel is here! I have neglected all of my other stories so that I could do this. :/ The plan ended up going in a totally different direction than I had originally wanted it to go (but that's what happens when you let the plot bunnies run wild). Instead of writing/uploading the whole prologue, I decided to have it in 'edible' sizes, just like the SS chapters. I'm expecting there to be two more parts to the prologue before we get to the actual storyline. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - Prologue (Part One)

Year One (5th April 2007 – 22nd February 2008) Age: 18 – 19

Hikari ignored the doorbell at the gate and went straight up to the door. It was late and she had skipped school that day. Being awake for over a day had taken a toll on the way she looked, her hair was still frizzy from when it rained and bags were forming under her eyes. She spent all night and day searching for her shinigami, hoping that he was playing some cruel joke on her, but Ankh wasn't found and he didn't turn up. The reality of it all finally sunk in.

She started knocking on the door, before questioning whether coming here was really a good idea. Hikari started to flatten her hair and smell her clothes to see if they stunk. She was still wearing the same clothes that Sachiko had washed for her. Maybe she should've had a shower before leaving her house? Her mind was all over the place, thoughts incoherent and she hoped her speech would be much better. The door opened and she stopped her worrying, Raito stood there looking at her surprised.

"Where were you today? You didn't answer any of my calls and didn't turn up to Uni either." He saw her attire was the same as the previous day and also the way her eyes would close, only to open straight away again. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

"None." Hikari said quickly before asking. "Can we go up to your room please?"

Raito nodded and instead of waiting to follow him, she shot up the staircase leaving him standing at the door. He scowled after seeing the door open and a thin piece of lead on the ground. This was the second time she entered his room without a care for his protection methods. His anger dissolved into confusion when he saw Hikari with her Death Note in her hands. She was just staring at it and he was sure there were tears running down her cheeks.

"What's wron-"

"I don't know how this works but hold out your hands." He walked towards her, doing exactly as she said. Had killing L make her lose her mind? "I am lending this Death Note to you." Hikari spoke the sentence in a very professional voice. Maybe she did lose her mind.

Raito looked at the notebook in his hands, still confused. "What does this mean?"

"I-I'm breaking up with you." She was still crying as she spoke and started to wipe her nose with the sleeve of her top.

As she tried to get passed him to leave, he stopped her, holding onto both of her arms. The Death Note was discarded on the floor. "No. You don't mean it. _Please _tell me you don't mean it."

Hikari looked up into his eyes but said nothing.

"What about the shinigami eyes? You gave up half of your remaining life span for them." He looked at their feet and started shaking his head. "I thought you were going to think about living with me, not think about breaking up with me." Raito lowered his voice and began speaking to himself. "This can't be happening…"

"I'm not stupid enough to give up ownership. It is still _my_ Death Note and I still have the shinigami eyes." A shadow in the corner of the room caught her attention and for a split second she thought it was Ankh, until she saw Ryuk familiar form. Continuing to look at the shinigami, she spoke to Raito who was still holding onto her, perhaps he was afraid that if he let go, she would disappear. "The Death Note is now yours to do whatever you want with."

Her words shocked him and he let go. Hikari walked up to Ryuk and they stared at each other for a few minutes before she asked him a question she really wanted to know the answer of. "Ryuk, do you know where Ankh is?"

"No."

"Could you go to the shinigami realm and see if he is there?" Her head tilted to the left, she was expecting a negative response to this question as well.

"No."

"That's what I thought you would say." Hikari gave the shinigami a half-smile before turning to leave.

"Maybe he died?" Raito inputted, trying his best to help her out, with the Ankh situation and not his room. Now he was unsure if her tears were because she broke up with him or because she was mourning the missing shinigami that she knew most of her life.

"No. He killed humans yearly to make sure that never happened." She laughed, but the tone of it was off. "He wasn't lazy like other shinigami." Her eyes flickered to the one in the corner who chuckled in return.

Hikari was at the bedroom door about to exit when she heard the shinigami clearing his throat. She stopped and turned around, hoping that he had something useful to say.

"I'm not good at this comforting stuff you humans seem to revel in but…" He paused as if trying to find the right words to use, something that was very strange for him. "I've known Ankh for a very long time, longer than even you have and considering how long he stayed by your side…" Again Ryuk paused, this time she had a feeling it was just for the effect rather than needing too. "…if he is gone, it wasn't by choice."

"What do you mean?" She walked further into the room again, not wanting to miss out on any important information.

"Just like humans, shinigamis have rules we need to abide by. If Ankh broke one of them, then the Shinigami King would look for him."

"But he didn't kill Raito…" Hikari mused.

Raito started muttering something that went along the lines of 'was that the only rule you could think of' as he sat down of his chair, flipping through the pages of the Death Note. She didn't bother sending a look his was and stared at the shinigami who stayed silent. After a few minutes of no one talking, she figured he wasn't going to say anymore.

"Thank you Ryuk." She smiled a bit more at his rare act of kindness and left the house.

* * *

Having the shinigami eyes improved her eyesight so that it was better than the average human's. Her parents had often wondered how she afforded the price of contacts when she had stopped wearing her glasses. The only explanation Hikari told them was that she used her savings from the part-time job she had. That was good enough for them and they never bothered asking for evidence because they were proud their daughter was a trustworthy person.

So when Hikari started wearing her glasses again, questions started to form, from her parents and peers alike. Her parents bought the 'I lost them' excuse and her friends bought the 'glasses are in now and I want to be cool' excuse. As soon as Raito saw her, he knew exactly why she was wearing them and didn't even bother getting his suspicions confirmed. She missed Ankh and she had looked at her shinigami through glasses the majority of her life. Hikari just wanted to feel close to him again, even if he was likely gone forever.

To-Oh continued as normal. Hikari never skipped anymore classes, especially since she had been called into the Dean's office and was told that her poor attendance at the beginning of the semester almost cost her being allowed to help Teru Mikami out as his assistant. All of her time was spent in class, doing jobs for Teru and studying. Any questions she had about her lectures, her boss was more than happy to help out. It hadn't been long since he finished his degree, so the core work was still kind of fresh in his mind.

The loneliness of not having Ankh around, was sometimes overbearing. To the point where Hikari just wanted to run into Raito's arms and ask him to take care of her, something she was sure he wouldn't mind doing. She still had a couple of core classes with him, which he was the first to take a seat next to her. Whenever her gaze wandered over to him, she would catch him looking at her, this never failed to make her blush but she always looked elsewhere, ignoring him for the rest of the lesson.

As her relationship with Raito deteriorated, all of which she would admit as her own fault. Hikari found an unusual friendship with her boss, Teru. Being his assistant, even though he had a secretary, she would help sort out files and get him a coffee a few times. Mainly she only did menial tasks, but she didn't complain because in her opinion it was all work experience and she was lucky to be getting paid for it. On rare occasions he would ask for her opinion on certain cases he was working on, it pleased her when she said something that helped him out.

She found herself looking forward to going to work. It kept her mind off Ankh and all the Kira business. Teru would sometimes mention what a great job Kira did with killing a certain criminal, but Hikari decided she wouldn't take sides anymore. Although Kira's legacy was becoming more well-known among the citizens of Japan, after experiencing all she had and also what _she_ had to do, there was no way she could back Raito fully.

Hikari still missed Ankh terribly, but as the weeks turned into months, it wasn't as daunting as the beginning was. Her sleeps weren't fitful and she could rest for the whole nights without waking up once to check if his familiar dark shadow was there. It was always disappointing when she realised the truth. She wanted him back and was still trying to figure out a way to find where he had gone, even though it was impossible. The time she spent by herself was nice though and the only thing to sadden her was when she would forget about him not being there.

In her room by herself, Hikari would sometimes start talking out loud, expecting Ankh to return his opinion. After hearing nothing, she would turn around and instantly come back to reality. If going out to the grocery store, she will make sure to never pass the aisles with milk or cookies in them. The first time she had, massive sobs left her and people would rush to her to see if she was hurt. Yes she was, but not in a way any of them could see or understand.

* * *

It was Hikari's birthday and her parents for the second year in a row, a big astonishment for her, took work off to spend the day with her at home. They still weren't around a lot but still noticed the small changes in their daughter. Assuming it was due to the break up and some phase she was late getting into. The sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house and her parents insisted she answer the door.

Getting up, she went over to the door, suspicious of the way her parents were acting. _Who could it be?_ Hikari opened the door and in front of her was Raito, looking his handsome self all dressed up in a suit. _Oh, him_. She was about to slam the door in his face but his hand reach out stopping her from achieving the desired result. She should've known something was up. Her parents never liked it when they heard about her breaking up with Raito, the perfect son with perfect goals. _If only they knew the truth_.

"What do you want?" She whispered harshly at him, looking behind her to make sure her parents weren't looking.

"I didn't want you to spend your first birthday without Ankh alone." Raito gestured to his other hand which held a single blue rose and a neatly wrapped gift. Briefly she wondered if he was the one to wrap it. _Probably not._ "I've also come to give you a present."

"That's very kind of him, don't you think Hikari?" Her mother came in from behind and opened the door wider. "Why don't you sit at the table? There's plenty of food left."

He nodded at the older woman saying his appreciation before giving Hikari her present and flower. She stood at the entrance dumbfounded and stared at the box. _What could it possibly be?_ Her first guess was jewellery and that is exactly what it was. A simple silver bracelet that had both of their initials inside interlinked hearts engraved on it. Looking at Raito she thanked him, it was pretty she would admit but it was unnecessary.

Later that night Hikari lead Ratio to the door, she was about to turn away but he grabbed her, pulling her towards him. "I still want you by my side Hikari." He whispered into her ear. The way he said it sent shivers down her spine, the good kind but she successfully ignored them. "I know you need time, so I will wait. You _will_ be mine again." Giving her a chaste kiss on the lips, he walked away and didn't turn back once.


	2. Another Year Goes By

**A/N: **Finally an update (I know I've been terrible :/). I predict that there will be one more part to the prologue (after this one) and then the actual story will begin. Also the rating has increased to M, mainly just to be safe, there are no _actual_ lemons, but it is implied (I guess you could say I'm taking the Stephanie Meyer approach) and I don't wanna be done for it by the rating police if they're out there. There are some definitions at the bottom as well - just for some words that may not be familiar. With all that said, enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - Prologue (Part Two)

Year Two (12th January 2009 – 22nd February 2009) Age: 19 – 20

Hikari walked through the doors of her work building. Instead of going to the elevator, her zouri covered feet took her into a large room off to the side. Normally this room would be filled with work desks, but for one day every year, it was cleared out for the _Coming of Age Day_. There were many seats situated inside, all facing the small podium against the back wall. She was uncomfortable and had her hands in the sleeves of her furisode. One was nervously playing with the bracelet on her wrist.

Her hair and makeup was done by a professional, generously paid for by her mother as an apology for neither of her parents being able to take the day off work. _Nothing changes for long_. Hikari wondered whether work would get in the way of her birthday as well. She decided not to wear her glasses on this day, which made it easier for everyone to see her green eyes that surveyed the room as more people close to her age showed up, the murmuring around her also increased in volume.

She felt silly being here because she was not yet twenty, but because her birthday was only a month away, it saved her from waiting a whole year to celebrate. A tap on her shoulder caused her to turn to the side and when Hikari saw Raito sitting next to her, she smiled. Not because of his closeness but because she knew he was younger than her and was probably feeling worse. She noticed he was wearing his signature smart-looking suit, not daring enough to wear a traditional kimono and hakama like some of the guys that turned up did. _It's not like he wears anything else anyway_.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you." Hikari whispered as she turned to the front, as the government officials were making their way to the stand. "You look the same." It was her subtle compliment, she had a feeling he would always be handsome, even without trying.

Long speeches were spoken and she found it hard to concentrate on them. They were boring and she wasn't particularly interested. Most of her attention was on how close Raito was sitting next to her. She could feel the heat radiating of off him and it was more distracting than her own boredom. Hikari jolted when she felt him place a hand on her knee, absentmindedly stroking her with his thumb. She tried to push his hand off but he used her action to start holding hands. Not wanting to create a scene, she left it, sending him a sideways glare.

The self-arrogant smirk he wore darkened her mood. Hikari went back to listening to the officials but they were soon drowned out by her thoughts of Ankh. The shinigami was still missing and she had gotten use to not having him around all the time. She stopped talking to herself but the tormenting still happened. She started eating cookies and milk, just like if she was a little girl again. A few tears were also shed every now and then.

Her busy schedule was now shared with the library. She must've read every single book there was on 'Death Gods'. Everything in her mind of what she read was fictitious and nothing to what Ankh had described to her. Hikari wished that he had told her more, like how one travels between the worlds. Without realising it, she had mumbled the shinigami's name and a squeeze from Raito's hand brought her back to the present. Everyone was clapping and so she joined in, glad it was over.

"Hikari! Raito! Come to the after party!" Someone from their group of friends shouted the offer across the room for everyone to hear.

"I don't know…" She began fiddling with the bracelet again, glad that the sleeves were wide so no one could see it.

"You should come, it will be fun. No one ever gets to see you because you're so busy these days." Raito reasoned.

The group of friends had come closer to them and were all nodding their heads at her. A persistent one started begging and pulling at her furisode until she reluctantly agreed.

Hikari nodded. "Fine, I will have to get changed first." She looked down at her formal attire.

They cheered and left the building to also get ready. Raito gave her his award-winning smile and reached over to squeeze her hand one more before heading over to his parents.

"You actually look nice when you're all dressed up." A voice startled her from behind and she quickly turned around to see who it was.

"Mr. Mikami, what are you doing here?" He bent down to kiss her cheek and she did the same to his.

"I do work in this building. I thought I would congratulate you, even if you aren't twenty yet." Teru's eyes looked over her shoulder and his eyebrows furrowed. "Who is that boy that was sitting next to you?"

"Him?" Hikari turned around and saw Raito glaring in their direction, his features lightened when he saw her looking. "He's no one special." _Just my ex-boyfriend, oh and Kira_. "I need to go home and get changed. I'm being made to go to an after party."

Teru gave her a disbelieving look but let it go. "Some of us have work. I don't want you ringing up sick tomorrow because you have a hangover, so I might see you then."

* * *

The blaring music coming from the house where the after party was located could be seen before heard. The house could be seen vibrating down the road and when inside, the music was almost deafening. There were a lot of people she recognised from a few of her classes but no one she really associated with. She was glad to have changed into something light because the house was stuffy with all of the people already in it. Hikari squealed as she felt herself get pulled into a much cooler room, a hand was placed over her mouth to prevent the noise escaping, though she would doubt anyone could hear her over the music.

"You're actually wearing it?" Raito sounded surprised as he held up her arm to get a closer look at the bracelet he gave her almost a year ago.

She nodded after allowing her heart to stop its racing beat. She had forgotten to take it off when she got changed earlier. "Why did you pull me in here?"

"Because in here we are alone, free to talk about and do _anything_." He ran his fingers through her hair and Hikari tried to not lean towards him. "Who was that man earlier?"

"Of course," She rolled her eyes. "Jealousy doesn't suit you Raito. He's my boss."

"He's _just_ your boss?" His eyes narrowed and he tried to see if she was lying.

"Yes." Hikari pushed at his chest, which was a bad idea because she was able to feel how defined it was underneath the shirt. "If you're going to interrogate me, I would rather just join the rest of the party." She turned to leave but Raito pulled her back to him.

"Stay." He whispered into her ear, making it impossible to refuse him. "Let me go get some drinks and we can continue talking."

Once alone, Hikari took note of her surroundings. The room had a desk and a bookshelf filled with various types of books, she assumed because of the tidiness it was an office of some sort. Being by herself and away from Raito, she was able to breathe normally. She nervously started playing with the bracelet and sat on the plush couch to the side of the room.

"I'm surprised you didn't throw it away." Raito entered the room holding two bottles of sake in one hand and two cups in the other.

_Got enough booze?_ Hikari stared back down at the engraved symbols on the bracelet. "You must've spent a lot on this. I didn't want it to go to waste." _I might still like you, even though I won't let myself be with you_.

He sat down next to her, a bit too close for her comfort and started pouring two drinks, handing her the first filled cup. They talked about a lot of things and it was some silent rule they had to stick with the safe topics. School, their upcoming birthdays, parents and even the weather came up at some point. Hours passed and the party continued outside of the room while Hikari and Raito were content with their conversation. The two sake bottles were on the ground and empty, another one soon to join it.

The bitter taste of the alcohol had been unpleasant to begin with but now, many cups later, Hikari was used to the taste and enjoyed the feel-free buzz it gave her. She had even dared to start an argument with him about whether Kira was killing criminals for justice or to only make his life easier when 'he' became a detective. They ended the argument in laughter and she found herself in his arms without quite remembering how she got into them.

"I still care deeply for you Hikari." Raito mumbled, holding her head to him and taking in a whiff of her smell.

Hikari nodded, she couldn't trust herself to speak, but ending up doing so. "I will always love you Raito, but with what you made me do-"

He cut her off by pressing his lips against hers. He tasted like the sake they were both drinking. She didn't know whether to blame her inebriated state or her want, but she started kissing him back. His tongue traced some imaginary pattern against hers as he leaned back on the couch until they were both horizontal. The rest of the time passed in a blur. Other people at different times entered the room and soon left after realising it was already occupied by the pair.

The next moment Hikari was on her bed, still making out with Raito. She tried to think back and remember how they got here but it was all blank. A moan left her as she felt his hand encased her breast and gave it a gentle squeeze. Her hands pulled at his hair, she liked the feeling of its smooth texture and the grunt he would make if she pulled too hard. The effects of the sake were still dominating her mind and actions. She wasn't fully aware of what was happening and only cared that it made her feel good.

* * *

It was the first waking up that she had ever felt pain, a headache was pounding inside her head and she just wanted it to go away. _Is this what a hangover is? It sucks!_ Hikari tried to get up so that she could take some pills to ease the pain but found herself restricted. Around her waist was an arm and something was behind her, keeping her back warm. A fuzzy replay of the previous night's events went through her mind. The party, kissing Raito and kissing him while in her room. She couldn't remember anything else, no matter how hard she tried. The headache didn't help either.

"Morning." Raito said, kissing her bare shoulder.

Hikari then came to the realisation that she was naked. "Do you remember what happened last night?"

"Bits and pieces."

"Oh no, oh no!" She threw his arm off of her and got out of the bed, headache forgotten temporarily, and she tried to find some clothes to get dressed. "We did it. Oh God, we actually _did _it."

Raito also got up, finding his own clothes to put on. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"Did we use protection?" Hikari searched the room for any signs of some. "What if I get pregnant? I'm too young to be pregnant. I haven't even finished school yet." She paced around her room, unable to stop the thoughts from racing through her mind and out her mouth.

"Calm down, I found it." He held up a condom that looked used, for her to see.

"Eww, don't show me it! Put it in the bin." It just made what happened last night real and even though she should be glad that she wouldn't be getting pregnant, it didn't make her feel any better.

"Should I leave?" Raito asked, looking at her dishevelled form.

"Yes."

He stood there a while longer, thinking up of a way to make her feel better. He didn't regret anything that happened and he wouldn't admit it aloud but it hurt him to think that Hikari did. She heard murmuring downstairs as Raito left, it was just her luck that her parents had decided to take _today_ off work. Sitting on her bed, she found her cell phone and dialled Teru's number. The painkillers were going to have to wait until her parents were somewhere else because she didn't want to face any confrontations.

"_Hikari is something wrong? You're an hour late to work."_

"Yes." Hikari was positive she couldn't say the real answer to why she didn't want to go into work. "Sorry I didn't call earlier, you were right. I drank too much sake…"

"_I'll see you after University tomorrow then. Drink lots of-"_

She rudely hung up and threw her phone beside her. Holding her head with her hands to try and lessen the headache's pain, she started crying. The tears were caused by many things such as the pain, feeling sorry for herself, the mess she got into and how Ankh wasn't here for her.

* * *

Teru led her to one of the tables in the middle of the restaurant. It was her birthday and just as predicted, her parents were working, so her boss decided to take her out for the night instead. Hikari went into work because it was the preferable option compared to staying home alone. The background noise of low conversations stopped any silence between them from being awkward as they were seated. She regretted looking around the place because she saw Raito at the opposite side, with the rest of his family, staring at her. His eyes were narrowed in a glare.

Teru excused himself to go to the bathroom as they waited for their meal to arrive and her eyes went back to the spot at the other side of the room to find that the person she was going to look at wasn't there.

"I thought you said he was just your boss." Raito sat down in Teru's empty seat.

"I'm not talking to you about this. Teru is celebrating my birthday with me." Hikari took a sip of the water that was placed in front of her.

"You haven't been answering my calls."

"I've been ignoring you." She saw her boss making his way back over to them. "Can you leave please?"

Raito looked in the same direction as her and glowered, standing up he left, but not before _accidently _shoulder bumping Teru.

"I thought you said he was no one special." Teru commented, ignoring the way she snorted after drinking more water.

_Maybe they have some things in common?_ "Can we not talk about it tonight?" Hikari said, taking off her glasses. "You're supposed to be helping me celebrate my birthday because my parents just don't care."

He nodded and their meals arrived shortly after. The conversation stopped as they started eating and she couldn't stop the feeling of someone watching her, and knowing who it was didn't lessen the chills that went down her spine. Not wanting to ruin the newly fixed mood, Hikari ignored him.

* * *

**A/N: **Some definitions - just in case.

Zouri – sandal type shoes

Furisode – fancy wide-sleeved kimono

Kimono – traditional Japanese clothing

Hakama – traditional Japanese pant-like clothing


	3. The Remaining Years

**A/N: **This is the final part of the prologue/time-skip. Next chapter will be the beginning of the story. Sorry for the late update, I will try and do weekly ones for this story from now on. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - Prologue (Part Three)

Year Three (1st June 2009 – 6th January 2010) Age: 20 – 21

By now Hikari was used to the way his eyes would follow her around the room. She had a feeling, even though he knew she wasn't Kira and no longer had any of the Death Note, Teru still worshipped her. It helped that he didn't know who the real Kira was. It started with the little clues, catching him looking at her when he should be working, him offering to go get coffee and they now ate lunch together. She didn't know what to make of it, but it flattered her to know that someone other than Raito was interested in her.

"Can you review these notes?" Teru asked. "I'm just going to get us lunch, do you want the usual?"

"Yes, please." Hikari replied, swapping places with him and sitting at his desk. She couldn't wait until she got her own office and secretary after she graduated from University, only one more year to go.

She read through the papers a couple of times, correcting blatant errors and making suggestions in certain areas. The door opened and she looked up to see Teru enter with two paper bags of food and also coffee. His secretary was behind him, trying to help him out when he clearly didn't want any. He placed the items on his desk and went back over to the door, locking it. Standing up, Hikari went to him, handing him the newly edited notes.

"I've made a few changes and there are some parts you might want to go back over." She looked at the door. "Do you think locking it is really necessary?"

"Yes and these can wait." Teru threw the papers on his desk, careful to not let them touch their lunch. He grabbed both of her hands and stared down at her. "We've known each other for a long time, wouldn't you say?"

"Yeah…" Hikari wasn't sure where this was going, but decided to wait and hear him out.

He didn't say anything else and just kissed her. The reason he had held onto her hands was to stop her from pushing him away because he knew she would be surprised. Teru stopped thinking rationally, not realising that maybe he was being too forward with her. Hikari was startled at first but she knew this wasn't the time or place for kissing her boss. Removing her hands from his grip, she pushed on his shoulders so that she could look up at him. Both their glasses fogged up.

"We can't do this, not here." She moved out from between him and the desk, going over to the door and unlocking it. "I don't know what you expect from me."

"We can take this slowly, I know that what Kira made you do still affects you." Teru started.

If only he knew the full truth. Hikari never told him the real reason for why she never went into work after the _Coming of Age Day_, or who Raito really is to her. Teru had his suspicions after finding out a name, knowing that the boy in the restaurant was more than _no one special_. So far she didn't think he has made a connection between Raito and Kira. She always changed the subject whenever he brought it up until he stopped bringing it up altogether.

"I will always be here for you and won't make you do anything you don't want to." It was reassuring but didn't stop the memories coming back. "Ankh is still gone and we don't know when he will come be back, _if_ he comes back. You need someone you can depend on, I can be that someone."

Ankh,_ her_ shinigami. It had been so long that Hikari started to wonder whether her whole time with him had just been a one big dream, or maybe it had been a hallucination. If she closed her eyes and tried to picture him, it was just a blur as if she didn't have the shinigami eyes and wasn't wearing her glasses. How long would it be until she forgot about him entirely? She didn't want to know the answer to that question because she still hoped he would come back from wherever he went to.

Teru continued his persuasions, though her mind was elsewhere. She could vaguely hear all the cheesy and overused terms and ideals he was using. He had to realise that he wasn't on a case and she wasn't the jury, about to make a verdict. Hikari knew he only saw the world in black and white, evil and good. It was something that brought him closer to Kira than he realised.

"Stop." Hikari placed a hand over his mouth, because he was still talking. "Just stop."

Teru was right, Ankh wasn't here to protect her and she did need someone to rely on. Hikari was sick of Raito still controlling her without even knowing he was. She wouldn't let him any longer. If she gave the man in front of her the affirmative, Raito would be pissed. She grinned at the thought, but she wasn't going to do this in spite of him. If she was doing this, it would be for herself because _she_ deserved this and deserved to be happy.

"I'll go out with you."

* * *

Hikari's trips to the library stopped. There was nothing the books could tell her, she would probably be better off writing her own one with the information she knew. At University, Raito would appear everywhere she was, outside her classrooms, on the train when she knew he had no classes. He probably hacked into the database of the school to get her timetable, she was just glad that they didn't have any classes together anymore. She tried to ignore it, making sure to turn a different way if she were to ever see him first.

Envelops with her name neatly written on them started turning up at her house. She could tell it was Raito's handwriting, so they were always thrown in the bin unopened. There was no curiosity of what was inside them. She was only getting sick of his antics. Hikari started to worry that maybe he had let the Death Note get to him and was becoming obsessed. She was glad he didn't know her real name just in case he had the feeling of 'if I can't have her, then no one can'.

* * *

Year Four (4th September 2010 – 7th March 2011) Age: 21 – 22

Graduation was a massive event for Hikari. It meant that she no longer had to study hard for good grades. It also meant that she could now work as a fully licenced criminal prosecutor, though she continued to stay as Teru's assistant for the time being. Raito also graduated, becoming the detective he always sought out to be. It would be even easier for him to now work alongside the task force members and lead them away from any actual leads of where Kira was situated.

Kira's killings had increased in scale. No criminal was safe anymore. They were dying of heart attacks all around the world, in Russia, France and Brazil. This initially caused panic, just like when it started in Japan, but people realised that only those doing evil deeds were dying. Crime rates decreased, wars ceased to exist and all because of a notebook. It would be laughable if the citizens found out that it only took a real name, a face and a pen to kill someone, but that was why the task force were working their hardest. Without realising that Kira was right in front of them.

* * *

"Where should I put these?" Hikari shouted as she motioning to both suitcases filled with her clothes even though he wasn't in the room.

"Just put them in the bedroom." Teru said walking in the living area holding a large box. "I've cleared some space for you."

She stared at him as he entered. He was out of his suit and wearing a black shirt with jeans. The evidence of his routinely gym workouts showed and Hikari admired the way his muscles would move slightly with every single movement his arms made. The trench coat definitely hid his assets. Teru stared at her as she stared at him, he was just happy that she agreed to move in with him when he asked. He watched as she blinked repeatedly after realising what she had been doing.

"The second door to the right, remember?" He laughed when she blushed and went back down to the car to get the last box.

_Right_. She knew where it was, her mind had just been on other things. Hikari wheeled both suitcases at once to the bedroom. As she started unpacking her clothes, thoughts of Ankh entered her mind. The shinigami never expressed any negative opinions of Teru. Would he be happy with what she was doing? Would he be proud of the woman she had become? It upset her because even after spending thirteen years with him, the four years she has been without the shinigami made her unsure of what the answer would be.

"Are you okay?" Teru asked, coming up behind her.

Hikari quickly rubbed away the few stray tears that escaped. "I'm fine."

"I'm sure he is thinking about you wherever he is." He tried to be reassuring, but he didn't believe his own words.

* * *

Year Five (11th April 2011 – 30th March 2012) Age: 22 – 23

Lately Hikari felt as if she had been hallucinating. It started with little prickly feelings of someone watching her, but whenever she looked, no one would be there. When she confided with Teru about it, he told her to be careful and that if she had a stalker, there was nothing legal they could do until physical harm was done. This didn't reassure her. She cancelled the stalker idea after she felt the same feeling while being alone in her office. She was still his assistant but now had her own place to work in, instead of invading his.

The feelings then progressed to the hallucinations. In the bathroom, the steam from the heated shower she had fogged up the mirror. When Hikari wiped it away to see her reflection, she saw Ankh behind her. Screaming at the suddenness of seeing him, she turned around to greet him, but the shinigami wasn't there. Teru thought that it could've been a belated reaction from the first time he was missing. Asking her if she wanted to see a psychologist, she refused, positive they would send her to a white padded room.

Now in every reflection she looked in, whether it is a window or a mirror. Hikari saw Ankh. He was never there when she turned around and it made her sad. Every time she saw him, she got her hopes up, thinking he was really there. It got to the point where she ignored them. Her imagination was obviously playing tricks on her and she didn't like it one bit. Teru was supportive towards what was happening to her, he covered any reflective surface in the apartment, so she could feel normal. He had no idea what to make of any of it.

* * *

Hikari was at her parent's house staring at about two dozen blue roses and a tiny box in front of them. Her mother had told her on the phone the person who had dropped them off, but she could tell who it was just by looking at them. Raito still remembered her birthday and apparently still hadn't given up either. She didn't know whether to be annoyed or admire his perseverance. She wanted to chuck everything in a bin, but couldn't do it with her mother and father watching.

"He wanted to give them to you personally but we didn't know your address." Her mother explained.

It was the reason why Hikari never told them where she was living. She knew that all Raito needed to do was give a few compliments and her parents would be putty in his hands. She laughed when thinking about his reaction to her parents telling him about her current relationship. They wouldn't have been able to keep it quiet, probably trying to assure him that she would come around some day. Or so they hoped. It was likely to never happen.

She opened the box to see a ring inside. It was a plain white gold band and had the same engravings on the inside as that which was on the bracelet she stopped wearing right after the _Coming of Age Day_ incident. There was also a note, explaining how the ring was a promise. Saying that they will be together eventually, he knew it. _Just move on already, please_. At the bottom he stated how Ryuk hadn't heard anything from or about Ankh. Hikari had forgotten about the other shinigami, she hadn't seen him since she broke up with Raito.

"I'm sure your boyfriend is a lovely man, but does he have the same dedication as Raito?" Her father asked.

"I'm not having this discussion with you again." Hikari left soon after lunch, saying a farewell to her parents.

All her mother ever seemed to think about was trying to get her _little girl_ back together with the perfect guy. Hikari had to stop herself from banging her head on the table with how many times her parents mentioned Raito. Why didn't they just invite him to the lunch instead? This was also why she hadn't bother introducing Teru to them. They had her high school boyfriend up on the highest pedestal that no one would be able to compete, in their minds. It irritated her, but she was old enough to live her own life now.

* * *

For the last week Hikari had been working on her first case. Teru thought she had progressed enough to be able to handle it on her own, though he was nearby if she did need help. She went to court to argue that the defendant was the person to commit the crime and should be held accountable. She thought she had hard evidence against the man but a jury still needed to discuss it in private and come to a decision.

Their verdict will be announced in a few days…


	4. Hidden From Sight

**A/N: **This is it, finally the first chapter! Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 1

2nd April 2012

Hikari grabbed onto Teru's hand under the table as she watch all the jury members exit the side room and enter the court. He gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand in return. The small audience near the back of the room stayed silent as the foreman stood ready to speak the verdict. She was quietly tapping her heeled feet on the floor in anticipation of what he was about to say. She had the fingers of her other hand crossed as she stared at him.

Sitting at the other table was Takuo Shibuimaru. It had been a long while since she had seen him in person, back when she first started communicating with Raito. He had escaped from Kira's judgement for so long and spent many years raping women without his name being released to the media. Never before had any evidence found been able to send him behind bars, but hopefully if Hikari's first time turned out well, he would finally be sent to jail. Only to have his name put in the Death Note one more time.

"We find the defendant, Shibuimaru Takuo…" There was a pause and she couldn't decide whether it was because he needed a breath or for dramatic effect. "Guilty."

Relief flooded her and she stood up as some people clapped at her victory. Hikari was grinning when Teru hugged and kissed her. She looked at the audience to find Raito glaring at them and also Ryuk with an amused grin. She hadn't seen a real shinigami for so long, the sight surprised her. As she left the courtroom, Raito called out to her to slow down, much to the annoyance of Teru. He muttered something about waiting in the car and went outside before she could stop him.

"What do you want Raito?" Hikari made sure to have a lot of venom in her voice when turning to face him. She almost greeted the shinigami but realised she was in a public place and that it would seem weird to anyone possibly looking at them.

"I came to congratulate you." He pulled her in for a tight hug. She was wearing heels, so they were close to the same height. Her hands were on his pectorals and she could feel just how much he had grown up over the last few years. "This was your first case and I couldn't miss out on the outcome, for once law has finally prevailed."

Hikari had a feeling that the reason he didn't kill Takuo so far with the Death Note was for her victory, but as soon as he got home, there would be no stopping Raito from putting the name down in the notebook. She felt him loosen his hold on her and she took the chance to push him away. He grabbed her wrists and led them into a deserted hallway where they would be able to speak freely without the chance of anyone passing by hearing them.

Raito pushed her up against the wall and was about to kiss her until she covered his mouth with her hand. "What are you doing?" She hissed out, looking around to make sure that no one could see them.

"I'm trying to kiss you." He mumbled into her hand. He removed it and his eyes narrowed in a glare. "You didn't seem to mind it when your boss kissed you."

"Well… uh…" Hikari bit her bottom lip, looking anywhere that wasn't his eyes.

He didn't need her to say anymore, he got the picture quite clearly. "Don't you think he is a bit old for you?"

"Oh so if I dated someone closer to my age that would be okay with you, _father_?" She rolled her eyes at him. "There is only four years between us, if that."

"Of course not." Raito stroked her cheek with a thumb and his fingers were splayed around the back of her neck. "It pains me to see you with someone who isn't me."

His voice turned silky smooth and Hikari had to resist leaning into him. His eyes bore into hers, brown looking at green. For someone who wanted to consider himself a God, he was very ordinary. He was just an extremely good looking everyday citizen, who happened to have a deadly secret in the form of a notebook. _Her_ Death Note. She placed her hands on his chest again, pushing so they were arm's length apart. She had to shake her head in order to clear her mind.

"How can you say something like that?" She laughed humourlessly at him. "You're dating my secretary."

"Why do you think that is?" Raito spoke in a low voice and he never once looked away from her. "It is only a means to get closer to you."

"I forgot. Yagami Raito, full-time Kira, part-time woman manipulator." Hikari became distracted as she saw Ryuk walk away with his lips moving.

Raito used this to get closer to her again. "I didn't manipulate you Hikari. You told me yourself, it was either him or me. You don't want me dead, yet you don't want to be with me."

"That is exactly why you should be thanking Teru." She stared at him accusingly. "It is because of him, I… I did what I did almost five years ago. L's death-day is in two days…"

"Mikami Teru…" He ignored everything she had said. "I wonder if it is his real name."

"No! Don't you dare!" It was Hikari's turn to glare at him. "I may not have wanted you dead five years ago, but a lot of time has passed since then."

Raito smiled smugly at her. "_I_ have your Death Note, you can't kill me."

"_I_ took out one page before giving it back to you." Although she spoke the truth, this was a bluff on her part. She had burned the piece of the Death Note she owned soon after the Ankh's initial disappearance sunk in.

He stayed silent, not being able to tell whether she did have a page or if she was just saying it to get her way. Another idea came to him, one that would benefit the both of them. He would get what he wanted and she would also get what she wanted. "If you really want your boss to stay alive, there is something you can do for me."

"What would that be?" Hikari was wary of what Raito had on his mind, it couldn't be anything good with the grin he had on his face.

"Tell me you love me."

"Wha-" She stopped herself from finishing the word. This was much different than what she was expecting, so she didn't want to complain, just in case he changed his mind. "I-I love you."

"Prove it." He leaned in to her and when he spoke, their lips touched with the movement. "Spend the night with me."

"No!" Using all of her strength, Hikari shoved him away from her.

"You mustn't like him very much if you are willing to let him die. I could make it very painful for him. Let him feel what I do." His voice turned sinister just as quickly as it had been sensual.

Was he really using her relationship with Teru to get sex from her? _Yes._ It didn't take long for her to answer the question. Raito did every he could to get what he wanted. "What if I could show you my _love_ in a different way?"

"How would you go about that?"

"Like this." Hikari started unbuttoning the top few buttons of her top, giving him a clear view of her cleavage. The small teenage body she used to have a few years ago had pleasantly changed into a woman's one.

"Isn't that just what I-" His eyes widened, not thinking that she was going to take him seriously before.

"Shut up Raito! Let me finish." She interrupted him

If by finishing she meant taking off the rest of her clothes, he was all for it. Sadly he watched as she pulled on the chain of her necklace that was tucked in-between her breasts. There was some resistance but then the object was freed. "Is that?" His fingers touched the ring dangling from the chain. All thoughts of her getting naked disappeared.

"Yes." She tucked it back in where it belonged and buttoned up her top. "The ring you gave me a few months ago."

"You do still love me." The way he said it made her think that he couldn't quite believe his own words.

"No. I loved the Yagami Raito before he let the Death Note control him." She kissed him on the cheek before whispering in his ear. "I have no love for the man I see now." She stepped away from him and dusted her short pencil skirt. "I should go. I've kept Teru waiting long enough."

"I know deep down you still love me Hikari, I will make you admit it one day."

She kept on walking down the large hallway, shaking her head and noticing that Ryuk was back to being Raito's shadow. Knowing she looked ridiculous, Hikari still did her best to run to Teru's car. When she got inside the vehicle, she saw him holding onto the steering wheel with such a tight grip that his knuckles were white. He didn't turn to greet her and carried on staring to the front, his features in a hard glare. Reaching over to him, she placed a hand over his.

"I'm sorry I took so long."

"I should go in there and introduce him to my fist." Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, he took her hand in both of his. "I know you don't want to talk about him, but I want to know if you are cheating on me."

"With Raito?" Teru nodded and she just laughed. "Don't be silly."

He let himself relax a bit and turned back to the front, turning on the vehicle and driving out of the car park. "It's perfectly normal for me to be scared." He rationalised out loud. "You're an attractive woman, he's an attractive man. You won't tell me but I am sure you two have some sort of history together." Teru held onto her hand again, quickly glancing in her direction. "Why else would you spend almost an hour in there with him?"

"We had some things to discuss and argued a bit." Hikari squeezed his hand. "I'm with _you_ and I don't plan on being with anyone else."

"Good." He finally gave a small smile. "I would have hated if you missed out on your congratulation present tonight."

Entering their work building, they found themselves alone in the elevator ride to their floor. She pressed her body against his and indulged in a quick kiss before the doors opened again. Going into their separate offices which were close to each other, Hikari didn't notice the dark shadow in the corner of the room until she closed the office door. She screamed, it was loud and a pitch high enough to hurt anyone's ears if they were close.

"Hikari! What's wrong?" Teru entered the room seconds after he heard her and gasped after seeing what she saw. He quickly locked the door behind him.

"A-Ankh? Is that really you?" She looked at her shinigami, not sure if it was another hallucination, but Teru could also see him so surely not.

Ankh stood still, waiting for her to slowly make her way towards him. When Hikari was standing in front of him, she tentatively reached out to make sure her hand wouldn't pass through him. It hit something solid. Both of her hands felt the surface of his reptilian skull and the crude, ancient scales that covered his torso and arms. The thick material of the wrap around skirt he wore was torn and battered. She couldn't believe he was really here after all these years. The surprise soon gave way to anger.

"How could you?" She shouted at the shinigami, fists were slamming into his chest. He had yet to say something and didn't do anything to stop her beating. "Why did you leave me? Where did you go?"

If anyone was listening outside the room, they probably thought she was yelling at Teru. Luckily she wasn't alone in the room. He didn't answer her and waiting until her punches stopped. The anger dissipated and tears started running down her cheeks. She leaned into him, hugging his form as she cried. All the years of feeling lonely, having a big part of her gone, came back all at once. Ankh moved his arms around her shoulders and one of his bony hands started petting her hair.

It wasn't possible for shinigami to cry but if he could, Ankh would be doing the exact thing the woman in his arms was. "I'm sorry." The pain was evident in his rough voice. "Let me explain everything to you…"


	5. Ankh's Tale

**A/N: **A quick update. :) The next one will be in a week. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 2

4th April 2007

"The opportunity you gave me yesterday. I want to accept it."

Ankh listened to Hikari's conversation. He wasn't particularly interested in what the man on the other end had to say so didn't listen intently. He made sure there was no one shady about as they walked back to her house. Two small shadows against the moonlight appeared on the ground, moving swiftly and becoming larger. He could hear the faint beating of wings and looked up to see two shinigami flying downwards, towards him. The two landed in front of Hikari, who had already gotten off the phone, she walked straight through them but they prevented him from going any further.

Justin, a male shinigami who was the recently new right-hand man to the Shinigami King and also ranked second out of all the shinigami held out his hand. "The Shinigami King put an order out for your arrest."

Ankh stayed silent he didn't want Hikari to turn around if she heard his voice. _Don't look back_. He willed his thoughts to her as she continued walking away. He hoped that she didn't get into any trouble because he wouldn't be there to save her. Wasting time, he pretended to not even notice either shinigami.

"It looks like Ankh is ignoring us." Daril said. She was the third ranked, female shinigami. "Would he be more compliant if we killed his human?"

"No." Ankh whispered, though he wasn't answering her question. Hikari was far away now that he didn't have to worry about her hearing him. "If you even think about killing her by pen or hand, I _will_ kill you."

"If you did that, you would be in deeper shit with the Shinigami King." Justin took a hold of one of his arms. "Just come along quietly and maybe he will lessen your sentence."

What would the sentence for his crime be? He should've known there was no loophole for what he had committed. Thinking back to the day he told Hikari how long she had left. Not only did his actions reflect poorly on him, but because he told her the truth, she made the shinigami eye deal. If only he lied, none of this would be happening and perhaps the man she killed would still be alive. His biggest regret was that he wouldn't be there for her when she needed him the most. How long before she realised he wasn't following her?

"Let's get out of here. The Shinigami King doesn't like waiting." Daril grabbed his other arm and both shinigami lengthened their wings and flew into the night sky.

* * *

The Shinigami Realm

They entered the realm through a crack in the ground. Ankh was greeted by the large plain desert-like area. Various bones were scattered all over the place and a cave where the Shinigami King resided could be seen in the distance. Justin and Daril kept their hold on him, knowing that he would try and escape if given the chance. They slowly made their way to the cave, following the path of recent footsteps in the sand. When a sphere could be seen, the female shinigami pulled the males over to it.

"I wonder how Ankh's human is fairing." Daril didn't really care, but she knew whatever they were to see would affect the captured shinigami.

In the orb they looked, picking up Hikari's form with ease. Ankh saw her looking around the house and in the immediate outdoors for him, calling out his name. It was the most he had heard her say his name and every single time more desperation sounded in it. He knew she had finally given up when she gave a heart wrenching scream and started crying, falling to the ground in a heap. Not wanting to watch anymore, Ankh struggled to get out of their hold.

"Carry on looking!" Daril shouted at him, she was strong enough to be able to release him with one hand and use it to hold his head. "Your old age has made you weak Ankh and you are pathetic." She hissed. "Shinigami are supposed to kill humans, not protect them. Or are you keeping her as a pet? Maybe it is the other way around?"

Ankh growled and shook violently. His anger at the female was getting to a stage where she had to hold on to him with both hands. He didn't like the way she spoke of Hikari. The girl was worth protecting, he wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't worth it. He couldn't deny that over past thirteen years he hadn't gotten attached to her, but that many years was such a short time for a shinigami than they were for a human. Daril's laughter was able to get through to him enough that he sent her a glare.

"It's because of _her_ isn't it, because of-"

"Don't speak of it. You have no right!" Ankh used his foot and kicked her in the shin, causing her to fall down. He was about to kick her in the stomach but the jewelled skeleton wacked his back.

"Stop." Justin's voice held authority in it and was instantly obeyed. "We don't have time for petty human arguments. The Shinigami King isn't going to be pleased that we've kept him waiting."

* * *

The Shinigami King Chambers

Hundreds of chains with hooks hung from the ceiling and in the middle of them all was the globe-like body of the Shinigami King. Justin and Daril pushed him so that he was standing in the very centre of the room. They left quietly, not wanting to be punished for wasting time. Ankh looked up and waited for the oldest shinigami to speak. The Shinigami King took his time, moving his four arms aimlessly. The claws nicked Ankh until they stopped and the shinigami started speaking.

"Do you know why you're here Ankh?"

"Yes." He kept his reply brief.

Apparently he still felt like explaining it. "Not only did you break a rule by telling a human of their life span. You told the human you were haunting _and_ it was to decide her decision for taking the shinigami eye deal." The skull head of the Shinigami King looked down at him. "You are lucky she took the deal. I am cutting your sentence in half. You will only be imprisoned for four years."

_Four years_. The amount of time meant nothing to him but to Hikari… she would be going through quite a few human milestones. Ankh would be missing all of her birthdays, graduation and there was some date that signified her becoming a woman. He would miss all of it. Without his guidance, what would happen with her and Raito? The thought of the human boy made him scowl. He hoped she wouldn't be stupid enough to stay with him, even if she thought she loved him.

Taking out his Death Note, Ankh opened it up to the last page. Not only did he use this notebook to kill humans but he used it to keep track of how much life he had left and whenever he would need to kill again. It was much easier than finding a mirror to look into. Closing it he put the Death Note away. He still had plenty of time left and wouldn't die during his imprisonment. He felt himself being grabbed and turned to see another shinigami, Rem. The fourth ranked shinigami. She led him out of the chamber and into a side room where there was a cage made out of bones.

"I'm sorry but I have to do this."

Rem started using chains to tie his hands to the top of the cage, they were wide apart and he knew after four years they would become sore. More chains were entwined around his ankles, legs and body. Ankh felt like one of those objects given to humans to celebrate another year since birth. All he needed was a bow. He wondered if Hikari would laugh at him if she were to see him. Probably not, she would try to free him at any cost if she knew how. Once Rem was done, she started to leave the room until he called out to her.

"Can you watch over her from one of the spheres?" He didn't feel like looking at the skeletal mummy shinigami, so hung his head instead.

She paused and turned around to face him. "What is it like to care for a human?"

"Annoying. Look where it has gotten me." Ankh tried to break the chains but they were too strong for him.

"Would you change your actions if given the chance?" Her deep voice seemed to echo in the room.

"No." He whispered it and she left. A few minutes passed until he realised that Rem never answered his original question.

* * *

Imprisonment (Year One – Year Four)

During the first few months Ankh started craving his cookies and milk. He was sure that if he wasn't tied up tightly his body would start deforming. He was already ugly so the image would be even more disturbing. No one visited him in the first year, but they didn't have a reason to. Ankh was left to his own thoughts and the whole time he thought back to all the years he had spent with Hikari. He had already known the meaning to the human term 'you don't know what you have until it is gone', now he knew what the humans meant by 'taking things for granted'.

During the second year, he was visited by Rem. "Your human broke up with a boy called Raito. I don't understand because there was no breaking involved."

"It is a good thing." For the first time since coming back to the Shinigami Realm, Ankh smiled. "I knew she wasn't stupid. That boy was no good for her."

"She also did an intimate act with him, is that also a good thing?"

Ankh suddenly sneered. "No." He tried to break free again but the chains hadn't loosened at all. "If only I was there, maybe my advice would help her." He laughed briefly. "She never did listen to me, why would she start?"

Rem had left while he was talking to himself. Her kind gesture didn't go unnoticed by him and somehow he knew she would be back again. Time didn't exist in the Shinigami Realm and he soon got tired of counting. Days rolled into each other and he knew the end to his imprisonment would be soon. His arms were sore and even though he didn't require sleep, he was tired. Rem hadn't visited him until he had only one more day left.

"I thought you should know that she is with a man." Rem stated.

"Raito?" Ankh hoped when the shinigami said 'a man' she meant 'another man'.

"No. This one is different, older. His name is Teru."

He could remember the man clearly. Ankh didn't know what to think of him, but he knew that Teru could make Hikari happy. Had she forgotten about her shinigami and moved on? When he was about to ask Rem, she was gone again. He only had to wait twenty-four hours until he was free. The first thing to do would be to look at Hikari through a sphere, to see how she is. Justin was the one to release him the next day, telling him to stay safe and to not break anymore rules. Ankh wasn't going to break any rules any time soon, but he did feel like breaking a neck. It would have to be done via a Death Note though, if he went through with it.

* * *

11th April 2011

Hikari was smiling and happy when he looked at her through the sphere. Teru was definitely a better man for her than Raito and the shinigami would be sure to tell her that, if he went to see her again. Ankh felt as if she had forgotten about him, he would sometimes see her staring off into space and it didn't help that he couldn't read her mind. Just watching through the sphere wasn't enough and he took the plunge, literally, going to the human world.

She had just gotten out of the shower when he walked into the bathroom. He watched as she wiped the mirror and upon seeing him she screamed. It wasn't the reaction he was hoping for and made himself invisible when she turned around. Ankh didn't realise that whenever he would show himself to her, only through reflections, it was slowly making her feel as if she was going crazy. He was scared that Hikari wasn't going to accept him back as her shinigami, so he let himself stay close without revealing he was really there. That was until he couldn't take it anymore. Ankh had to be right beside her, _with_ her knowing about it.

* * *

2nd April 2012

Ankh watched Hikari stand with a huge grin on her face. She had won, but he never doubted her. The shinigami was standing in the corner, invisible to everyone in the room apart from Ryuk who would send him glances every few minutes. He followed Hikari out and even to the secluded hallway that Raito pulled her into. The boy was even more vomit inducing as a man. He stayed at the end, not wanting to hear whatever words the brunette was going to say to Hikari.

"Where have you been?" Ryuk asked him as he walked away from the pair.

"I was imprisoned." Ankh's eyes stayed on Hikari as he spoke.

"How boring, though I can't say the human world has been any more interesting."

The reptilian shinigami gave a loud sigh. "I'm going to reveal myself to her when she gets back to her office."

"Good." The lanky shinigami looked at Hikari showing Raito the ring. "What's the bet that her and Raito get back together?"

"I thought you didn't care about anything that happened? We have the other bet going as well." Ankh still shook Ryuk's hand. "Ten apples they don't."

"If you do win then let Hikari know that she owes you whatever." Ryuk waved him off and went back to the pair.

Ankh made his way to her office. Being able to fly and go through walls made the trip easy. Once he was inside, he stayed in the corner and let himself be visible to Hikari, for when she entered. The wait was long but he saw the door open and she came in. He had to admit that five years had been kind on her. She looked at him and screamed. Ankh had to resist blocking his ears and also making himself invisible.

This time he would see how else she would respond. Her hands explored his face and body with gentle touches, as if making sure he was real. He then felt her punching, they didn't hurt him and he knew she needed to release the anger that was inside of her. Ankh had been foolish to let it last this long, he should've stayed revealed the first time. _No_. He should've gone to her as soon as he was out of the imprisonment.

Hikari started crying and if he had a heart, it would be breaking all over again. He swore on any God apart from Kira that if he had to leave her again it would be because of his death. He brought his arms around her and started petting the soft black curls of her hair. _I'm sorry_. If he could cry he would be, but there were many things he couldn't do as a shinigami. _Let me explain everything to you_.


	6. With Old Comes New

**A/N: **There will be another update tomorrow. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 3

4th April 2012

Hikari placed her glasses in their case and buried it under her clothes in the top drawer. There was no need for her to wear them anymore because Ankh was back. They started to get annoying after the first two years of wearing them but she had just gotten into a habit of putting them on. The shinigami was sitting on the bed behind her, eating cookies from a packet she bought the day before and milk also lined the top of his mouth. It seemed that their grocery bill was going to get much higher from now on.

"So you're saying that the only reason you wore the glasses was because you missed me?" Ankh asked while getting his head around the explanation she gave him earlier.

"Yes." She sat next to him on the bed and put her arms around his waist, placing her head on his scaly shoulder. "I still can't believe you are back. I will never get you to break any more rules. If you were to leave me again… no, I don't know what I would do and I don't want to think about it."

"Stop being sappy Hikari." Even though he said it, the shinigami made no move to get away from her. "I'm back and I'm not going anywhere."

Going to the bathroom, she started brushing her hair into a low ponytail. "You're right. I'm not a little girl anymore. I need to stop acting like one."

"It is a good thing you aren't with Raito anymore. I never liked him, especially when he tried to hurt you." Ankh followed her, standing in the spot where she first saw him in the reflection. "This Teru man is much better for you."

"It makes me happy that you approve of him." Hikari did a kissing face to the mirror as she applied some red lipstick. "Are you ready to go to work with us Ankh?"

The shinigami groaned. "Your job is more boring than the classes you took." He saw Teru enter the bedroom. "I'll just meet you in your office." Ankh disappeared through the wall.

Together Teru and Hikari left the apartment and went down into the parking lot. As soon as they entered the car, she knew something was up because he didn't put the key into the ignition straight away. She waited for him to speak, noticing that her talk with Ankh had taken a while and if they left _now_, they would just make it to work on time. Would it matter if they were late? She didn't think so because he was her boss, but she knew he liked to stay on a tight schedule.

"Raito is Kira." When he said the words aloud, Teru didn't know whether to be angry or pleased. "I should've guessed, it explains everything." He started the car, aware of the time, and drove to work.

"How-"

"I overheard your conversation with Ankh." Teru interrupted her, speaking with an oddly calm voice. "I'm sorry, I knew I shouldn't have but I couldn't make myself turn around."

Hikari placed a hand over one of his on the steering wheel closest to her. "It's okay. I should've told you at the very beginning."

"Why didn't you?" He quickly sent her a glance.

"I know how high the pedestal you hold Kira up to is." She looked out the window at all the traffic. "I'm not against what Kira does, I even support him. I'm only against what Raito does. He has killed too many innocent people, I've killed one and that is too many as well."

"And you thought that if I found out Raito was Kira, I would start worshiping him." Teru held her hand that was on his when she nodded. He squeezed it reassuringly which didn't fit with what he said next. "You would be right."

Hikari frowned at him, not sure that she heard him correctly. "What? Are you saying that I'm going to be seeing pictures of Raito in the apartment now?"

"No, no, no, no." He raised her hand to kiss her knuckles. "If I had found out who Kira was before meeting you then I would've gladly been his servant. I cannot forgive Kira for what he put you through and I also blame myself for that. I have already let him win once. I won't let him do it again."

They were parked at work and still stayed in the car. Teru wanted them to talk about everything Kira related before going into the building. He had an idea he wanted to tell her about, but didn't know how she would react to it. Hikari turned to face him, it was hard to do because her knee kept hitting the automatic transmission gear stick and it was also a difficult position in the skirt she was wearing. She smiled at him before speaking but somehow knowing that he had more to say.

"I want to thank you. It would hurt me if you still supported Raito after everything." She kissed his lips quickly, not wanting to leave a trace of lipstick on them. "I don't blame you for your help. I would never have been able to kill Raito back then and your words gave me the reasoning I needed to do what I did. I only regretted it once it happened."

"I want you to get your Death Note from Raito. I don't care how you get it. I can pick up from where he left off. I can be the new Kira."

"No." Hikari spoke adamantly, there was going to be no way to change her mind with this issue. "The Death Note will corrupt you, like it has done to anyone who has used it."

"You weren't corrupted." Teru argued.

"I used it when I was younger." She looked away thinking about her model cousin and the bullies. In her mind back then they deserved it, but as an adult did she really believe that they needed to die? "I was lucky to be able to grow up without it in my possession."

"You must still like him." He concluded, looking away from her and gripping the steering wheel to keep his jealousy in control. He didn't want to hear her confirmation.

"You need to get this me liking Raito notion out of your mind." Hikari lightly knocked his temple. "I love _you_. Not Kira or anyone else. Now let's get into work before we get in trouble."

"Actually, I need to go somewhere. I'll be back in time for lunch." Teru kissed her cheek. It was his polite way of telling her to get out of his car.

"Where are you going?" She was suspiciously concerned that it wasn't anywhere good.

He refused to look her in the eyes. "To the police station…"

"Why?" Hikari narrowed her eyes. She didn't like the way he drifted off, leaving the sentence open.

"There is evidence I need to look at for a case."

"Oh, okay. Don't go looking for trouble while you are at it." She gave him a final smile before leaving the car.

She watched him turn the key and back out, waiting until he turned the corner before walking to the building. Everyone greeted her with smiles and a few asked where Teru was. Hikari only told them that he had some business to attend to. She still didn't believe his reason for going to the police station was genuine and didn't want him to get caught out if it wasn't. Ankh was waiting in her office like he said with a smirk-like smile on his face.

"Have a nice chat with Teru?"

"_You_ knew he was listening weren't you?" Hikari asked him in a low voice, not wanting her secretary to hear her.

The shinigami's lack of reply gave her the answer she needed.

"Whose team are you on Ankh?"

"I'm on whichever team will keep you safe and right now that is Teru." Ankh came up to her and pulled on the necklace she was wearing. "Just be grateful I didn't talk about _this_ while he was listening. Did Raito give you it?"

"Yes." She replied, getting out of his reach. "It is too expensive to throw away."

"Then put it in one of your drawers, you don't have to wear it." He threw his arms in the air. Somehow he forgot how irritating the human girl could be.

"I-"

There was a knock on her office door, interrupting her. "There are two men here to see you. I told them that you have a busy schedule but they insisted to see you now, something about being an old friend."

The person talking through the door was her secretary Yuri, Raito's current girlfriend. Hikari made sure that she was looking presentable and that Ankh had no crumbs on his face which would appear floating in mid-air. She wondered who could possibly be insisting on seeing her. It couldn't be another case because she got those from the head office or Teru. She never kept in contact with any of her University friends either and it wasn't as if she had any high school friends.

"They can come in Yuri." She called, sitting down behind her desk.

The door opened to reveal and elderly man. He looked familiar but she couldn't place his face anywhere. She was sure her secretary mentioned two men, but only one entered. Standing up she went over to him and shook his hand, gesturing to him to sit in one of the chairs provided. Sitting back down herself, Hikari rested her chin on one hand as she stared at him, trying to remember where she had previously met him before. Maybe it was just some random person she had seen when she used to travel on the train?

"I'm sorry Mister." Hikari said, still looking at him. "Have we met before?"

"Yes, we were not properly introduced though." He straightened out his suit. "I am Watari, former caregiver of L."

Everything came back to her and she remembered him clearly, even though she had only seen him a few times. _Former caregiver of L_. The words repeated itself inside her mind. "Today is his death-day." She stated the fact without much thought and quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, that was very rude of me when you must be mourning."

"That's quite alright dear." Watari cleared his throat. "I was wondering if you could do a favour for me. L may have suspected you as Kira, but you held an interest in him that no other had before."

"What is it? I will do everything I can to help out." Hikari accepted straight away, maybe this could be her redemption for the crime she committed so long ago, one that affected this very man in front of her.

"I know you are a criminal prosecutor, but I was wondering if you could defend my friend who has been wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit." He moved to the door and opened it, letting in the second person who was waiting outside her office.

He had blonde hair down to his chin and a fringe covering his forehead. In his hand was a chocolate bar which he started taking bites out of every few seconds. If he had not already been introduced as a man she would've thought he was a manly girl, it was the hair and his thin figure that made him look feminine. The blonde seemed to like leather because he wore pants and a tight vest made out of the material. When he spoke there was no mistaking his gender.

"I told you this wasn't necessary old man." Bits of chocolate flew out of his mouth.

"Miss Shimizu, I would like to introduce you to Mello."

* * *

Teru was waiting at the front reception desk at the National Police Agency. The men were on the phones, claiming to be busy and he started drumming his fingers on the countertop, his patience was running thin. He had lied to Hikari about why he came here because it had nothing to do with work or a case. One of the male receptionists finally finished their conversation over the phone and looked over at Teru, smiling and greeting as it was said in his job description.

"How may I help you sir?"

"I want to speak with Yagami Raito, he is a detective here." Teru answered, barely gritting out the other man's name through his teeth.

The man behind the counter picked up the phone again, after talking into it he put it down. "I'm sorry but Yagami Raito is in an important meeting and does not want to be disturbed."

"Tell him that Mikami Teru wants to speak with him."

"Just one second." After another phone conversation the receptionist faced Teru. "He will be down in a few minutes."

"Thank you." He turned away and began pacing, not feeling like sitting on the cushioned seats.

As he waited, Teru started doubting his actions. He hadn't thought the whole plan through when he decided that he was going to come see Raito. Was there going to be a big confrontation? How was the younger man going to react to him being here? He saw the detective walking towards him after leaving the elevator. Teru wanted to punch the smug look off his face so badly. When Raito held out his hand for a handshake, he took it. They stared each other off while shaking hands, gripping the other tightly and not wanting to be the first to let go. It became clear that neither of them were going to back down and also they had been holding hands for much longer than should have been comfortable between two straight men. They both let go at the same time, coming to the same conclusion.

"Mr Mikami, what a pleasant surprise." Raito pointed back to the elevator. "Let me show you my office, you should've called before you came, I would've made sure I was free."

Teru didn't bother replying and silently followed. It was going to be convenient for them both that Raito was leading him to an isolated place. The office looked like any other one, perhaps a bit too clean and tidy. Every surface seemed to have been dusted multiple times. He had to resist the urge to wipe his finger across an edge to see if it was really clean. Raito closed the door behind them and turned to Teru, any friendliness seen before was gone from his features. In front of the criminal prosecutor was Kira.

"What are you doing here Mikami?"

"I know who you are Yagami." Teru laughed humourlessly. "If I had met you before meeting Hikari, this would've been a great honour and it would've been you I worshipped."

Raito's self-righteous smirk appeared on his face again. "You still can. I _will _be God."

"No, there is only going to be one Deity in my life." He looked around for any weapon he could use, but there was nothing within reaching distance. He was going to have to rely on his fists.

"Hikari will come back to me once she is bored of you. It is only a matter of-"

Raito's speech was cut short as Teru punched him square in the jaw. He was amazed he actually went through with it, all the working out at the gym really paid off. Smiling to himself at the small victory, he was oblivious to Raito's fist connecting with his nose. There was no cracking sound, so he assumed it wasn't broken but could feel blood dripping out of it. His glasses on the other hand were damage and fell off, his vision became blurry.

"Just feel lucky that I told her I wouldn't write your name in the Death Note." Raito stood on Teru's glasses making sure they were really broken. "I never promised anything about not physically hurting you though."

"Hey Raito, I was wondering when…" The door opened and Touta Matsuda saw the struggle between the two men. "Chief! I think we need to stop this."

Soichiro came to the room to see his son and a bloody man with him, fists were raised and glares were deadly. "We need to take them down to the cells. Aizawa! Mogi!"

"What about me Chief?" Matsuda asked, saddened that he wasn't chosen to take one of the men.

"You can get the paperwork ready."


	7. Bad Boy or Victim?

**A/N: **I'm not a big fan of chapters overloaded with speech, but this one is dialogue central. :/ Still, enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 4

4th April 2012

"I think we should wait until my boss, Mikami Teru, comes back." Hikari suggested after offering Mello a seat.

The blonde sat with an ankle on his knees and she was sitting in the right, or wrong, angle so she was able to see the way the leather of his pants stretched across his crotch. It left nothing for the imagination and Hikari would need to wash her eyes out with soap later that night. She felt bad for the shinigami who probably had the same view as her, only worse, at least he was able to walk through walls to get away. Did younger people have no dignity these days? He looked foreign and it must've been part of his culture to dress in such a way, or he just had really bad fashion sense.

"I was hoping this would only stay between us." Watari said.

Hikari nodded. "Well, I suppose there is no harm in hearing you out. I'll have to see if this is something worth going to court about. Remember that defending isn't one of my strengths." If her uncertainty wasn't dissuading them, she didn't know what would.

"Mello why don't you explain to her what you don't want to tell me?"

"Wait..." She held her hands up indicating exactly what she said. "_You _don't know why he is here Watari?"

For the first time Watari looked embarrassed. "No. All I know is that Mello came to me for help and he would've never asked if it wasn't important. He just doesn't want help usually, claims he can do everything himself."

"Mello, do you want Watari to be in here?" Hikari asked him.

He rolled his eyes. "It doesn't bother me. I think this is all a waste of time." Mello pointed his chocolate bar at her. "You don't believe you can help me so how is this going to work out in the end?"

"I'm a criminal _prosecutor_, not a criminal _defender_!" She stated just below a shout, trying to defend herself.

He scoffed. "Don't get your panties in a twist woman."

"Calm down you two. Both of you should act professional, especially you Miss Shimizu." Watari scolded.

Hikari sighed, rubbing her temples. "How about just telling me what happened and what you want me to do?"

"Where should I start?"

"The beginning is always best." She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"Actually, I would prefer not saying it in front of Watari." Mello sent Watari a furtive glance.

Before she could sigh again, Watari stood to leave. "I'll be in the limousine, waiting for when you are finished." They waiting until the elderly man closed the door and his footsteps faded.

"It started when I heard about L's death." He decided that he would start from the _very_ beginning. "I wasn't named exclusively as his successor and didn't want to work alongside this twerp who was younger than me. I left the place I was staying at. I knew I could live by myself, I didn't need them. Even at the age of fourteen, I was really _really_ smart, much smarter than that stupid albino, but I let my emotions take control of me. _I _was the one to mention that it should've been him to be L's successor, he wasn't chosen over me. He isn't smarter than me, _I_ am number one."

"Are you here because of something this boy had done?" Hikari interjected, she needed to say something to stop him for a little bit. She could only take so much of his constant talking at once.

"No! I'm getting to that part, just shut up and listen."

Hikari figured he needed to get whatever it was off his chest, so she leaned back in her chair and carried on listening, trying not to laugh when Ankh began yawning.

"We all did our part in solving small cases, proving that we were worthy of L's position. I wasn't going to be a poor kid, I had money. I started working in a chocolate factory, no point wasting my funds dry. On my sixteenth birthday I decided to come to Japan, learn the language. That was when I bumped into this really shady guy, said he was part of the yakuza, they are this huge organised criminal family and-"

"I know what the yakuza are Mello, I live here." She told him, not needing to be taught anything from a foreigner about her own Country.

"Under that good image of yours, you are pretty feisty Hikari."

She ignored his comment and gestured for him to continue. "What did you do after meeting this yakuza guy?"

"Right back to business I see." Mello almost laughed but hid it with another bite from his chocolate. "Well he said that they were looking for new recruits. I never done the crime thing before and thought of myself as a bad boy, since I've been living by myself for a while. It was even better when he said I could have a gun and everything. I told him I was in and he took me to the boss man. The old man knew a smart person when he saw one and took a liking to me real quick even though I wasn't from around here."

"Are you still with the yakuza?"

"I sort of quit a few days ago. You see, I started doing jobs for them. Little to begin with but slowly getting more dangerous, earning my ranks up the ladder. I ended up becoming the boss man's most trusted ally, or so I thought. I was set up for a crime I didn't do. This is why I need your help."

"I'm sure there are many crimes you have done that you haven't been caught for though?" Hikari knew she shouldn't continue with this and just send him out her office door but there was something stopping her from doing so.

"Shut up! The yakuza could very well kill me. I'm not ready to die not yet."

For the first time since he entered the room Hikari looked above his head at his real name and life span. She was glad that he wouldn't be dying anytime soon either. There were a few questions she needed to ask him before deciding whether she would take on the case or not. She didn't quite believe that Mello was the victim and could understand why he didn't want Watari to know about all of this. The matter would also be very difficult to handle because of the yakuza involvement.

"Look I was supposed to do this job, blowing up a part of Yotsuba which is a massive-"

"I live here remember?" This time Hikari did roll her eyes.

"Will you let me finish? You are so annoying!" He took a bite from the chocolate and waited until he swallowed it before speaking again. "I thought that there would be no one in the building, but from the outside I saw that there were people still working. I don't murder innocents. It's just not my thing. So I ran and hid, but the next day I read in the newspaper about the part of the building I was supposed to blow up, had blown up. Whoever had done it wasn't me and they killed so many people. Next thing I know, police officers are on my doorstep. I have no idea how they found me and I get taken in. Watari was the only person I could think of to call. He pulled a few strings and took me here."

Hikari had also watched the news about the bombing happening. There were many innocent lives taken and the only notable name she could remember was Arayoshi Hatori, Vice President of Marketing. "If it wasn't you who bombed Yotsuba… then who was it?"

"I don't know! Just don't tell Watari about all this, he only knows the basics. The only reason I don't want him finding out is because he would just look down on me and not think I'm worthy. I don't need him looking down on me when I am trying to surpass stupid Near."

"Who is Near?" She had never heard of the name before, another alias of some sort?

"No one, forget I said anything."

"Before I make a decision, I want to know something." Her eyes went to above his head where his real name was displayed. "Is Mello your real name?"

"What does my name have to do with anything?"

"With Kira around passing judgement on criminals, we wouldn't want you to be killed before you have the chance to prove you're innocent, right?" Though there was a strong possibility if Raito knew she was going to be the lawyer he would wait.

"Don't worry about it. Mello is not my real name."

"Good, I was going to recommend an alias of some sort. Looks like I'm defending you." She tried to smile but it was hard when on the inside she was feeling anything but joyous.

"Aren't you scared? Kira might punish you for helping me out."

"Don't worry about me. My name is sort of an alias as well."

He pointed to the wall. "But the certificate behind you…"

"I was lucky to have my last name informally changed at a young age. Kira can't kill me." She told him with a smile. _He has already tried and failed_. "I will send in for a court hearing but it will probably be in a couple of months. Can you stay safe until then? We don't want the yakuza killing you either."

"I'll be fine." Mello got up and threw his chocolate bar wrapper in the bin next to the door. Before he left, he turned around. "I know I don't seem grateful but… thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Hikari!" Yuki came into the room as soon as the blonde left, she seemed distraught. "Teru is on the phone, he says that he doesn't have long to talk."

Hikari glanced at the clock outside her office and saw that it was already past twelve. _Where was he?_ She picked up the phone in her office. "Hello?"

"_Hikari, I need you to come get me."_

"Where are you? What happened?" He sounded haggard and not like himself.

"_I'm in a holding cell at the NPA. I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."_

"What did you do Teru?" She used a stern voice, but already knew what must've happened. "How badly did you beat each other up?"

"_I only bruised his jaw, but he almost broke my nose and he broke my glasses."_

She pinched the top ridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "How am I supposed to get you when you took the car? How am I supposed to get home?"

"_Someone called Matsuda Touta is going to pick you up after your working hours are over, only if you agree to come and get me. You will need to pay the fee to get me out also…"_

"I'll see you when I'm finished up here then." Hikari hung up on him, not bothering to say good bye. She let out an exasperated sigh, folding her arms on her desk and leaning her head on them. It was going to be a long rest of the day.

* * *

"I'm Matsuda Touta." The man was standing next to a parked car right outside her work building, he bowed deeply. "I'm here to take you to the police station."

Hikari smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Shimizu Hikari."

After he shook her hand, they got into the car and Matsuda gave her an exaggerated story about how he was the one who found Raito and Teru at each other's throats. He was using his hands to make certain gestures but stopped after almost hitting a few cars. She laughed at his enthusiasm over the whole situation. Apparently working for the police force must be just as boring as her work, if this was the good stuff. He started blushing when she told him to concentrate on the road.

"They were both sent to separate holding cells but the Chief let out Raito with a warning. I have no idea why they were fighting…"

"I think I know why." She muttered in a low voice, not wanting him to hear her.

"Wait, weren't you Raito's girlfriend five years ago? I remember seeing your picture attached to a profile that L-" Matsuda quickly stopped talking, afraid that he had said too much. "Just ignore what I said please? Oh man, if the Chief finds out I'm going to get in so much trouble! We're here anyway."

Hikari entered the Nation Police Agency and handed over the Yen needed for Teru's release. She was taken to a large room with other officers including Raito, who smiled at her when she entered. Ignoring him, she took a seat near Matsuda's desk waiting for Teru. He came in and his eyes widened when he saw her, obviously they took care of getting him some glasses. Struggling against the hold of Soichiro, he had to slowly make his way over. His arms suddenly went around her when he was released and he kissed her on the mouth, making her blush for being in front of many men looking at them.

"I was scared that you were going to let me stay here for a whole night." Teru whispered in her ear.

"You aren't off the hook."

"I'll have to make it up to you on our three year anniversary, which is in a few months." He said this more loudly and a pen was heard snapping at the far end of the room.

Everyone looked to see Raito with ink off over his hands and a none-too-pleased look on his face.

"Let's just go home." Hikari said as Soichiro handed her the car keys.


	8. When It Hits the Fan

**A/N:** It's here, sorry! I'll be doing another update on this during the week to make up for it as well. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 5

6th April 2012

Her cell phone rang again for the third time that morning. Like every other time before, she ignored it by letting the tone ring in her office. The person calling her was Raito and Hikari had no intention on answering it, especially not when her secretary was just outside her door and Teru was in the room beside hers. The ringing stopped and this time there wasn't any indication of a voicemail message being left. She thought this was strange but then realised what he would've been doing when her phone started vibrating, alerting her that a text message had been received.

Hikari ignored it and went back to work, somehow knowing it would be him. After a while she noticed how her phone didn't get any more calls and thought that maybe it was someone else who had sent the message. Checking her phone, she saw that she was wrong and it was actually Raito who sent it. With the phone already in her hand, she opened up the message, almost regretting it as soon as she read what it said.

Raito [11:03am]: I know you won't read this straight away. Answer your phone at 12. It is important.

She glanced at the time on her phone, it was almost twelve and she knew that Teru would be coming in her office with lunch. Hikari had a bad feeling this wasn't going to turn out well. After picking him up from the holding cell at the NPA, she proceeded to tell him off as if he was a little boy who stole a cookie from the cookie jar. Now that she had a case, the last thing she needed was to have a jealous boyfriend. Teru was supposed to apologise to Raito but she was sure he hadn't done so yet. Maybe this call would knock out two birds with one stone?

At exactly twelve her phone started ringing. Without looking at the Caller ID she picked it up and answered. "What do you want?"

"_Is that any way to speak with someone you love?"_

"I don't… never mind." Hikari rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her. "What is so important that you can't leave me alone to work?"

"_Is it true that you're defending a guy that goes by the alias Mello?"_

"Yes, how did you-" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw her office door open.

Teru entered and instead of holding brown paper bags filled with food, he held up his car keys. "I want to take you out for lunch today."

"_Who is that? Is that Mikami? And I thought office romance wasn't allowed."_

"Darling!" Hikari made sure to say it very clearly through the phone so that Raito could hear her and she was sure he did when she heard him grumbling something incoherent. "Remember that _thing_ you have been meaning to do? Now is your chance." She handed her cell phone to Teru assuming he would know what she was talking about.

"Hello…?" His features darkened and he glared at her. "Yagami… what are you doing calling Hikari?" There was more talking on the other side but she couldn't hear any on it. "Yes, well I just want to… _apologise_ for the other day." Teru stared at her as he spoke, silently telling her that he didn't mean anything he said. "Don't give me that bullshit, I'll-"

Hikari took her phone from him and placed it to her ear. Teru turned her around so that her back was to the wall. She pushed at his chest with a hand to try and get some space between then, even if it was only an arm's length. "How do you-"

She was interrupted again trying to ask the same question to Raito. Instead of Teru opening the door, he had pushed past the barrier of her arm and kissed her. A grunt was heard on the other end of the phone connection and then she was left to listen to the tone of being hung up on. Hikari felt him smile against her lips and it was obvious that this was what he wanted to achieve. One of his hands held onto her hip and the other was pushing the immovable wall beside her head.

Teru's tongue slipped into her mouth, passing her lips as the opened when she moaned. He hiked up her skirt so that he could grab the underside of her knee and lift it to wrap around him. Placing her cell phone in his shirt pocket, Hikari ran her fingers through his shoulder length hair until her arms were around his neck. He grinded his pelvis into hers to show how much he wanted her. She had to press her lips to his neck in an attempt to lessen the sounds of her own want.

In all the years they had been together, a professional front was always kept at the work place. Apparently Raito's call had pushed over the balance. Her phone started to vibrate and ring with another incoming call. Quickly she grabbed it before Teru could answer it first. Hikari gave him an apologetic glance and put one of her hands over his mouth to stop him from doing anything he shouldn't. His eyes told her something entirely different, about her hand not being able to stop him.

She was still breathing heavily when she finally pressed the green button. "Is that you?" As soon as Hikari asked it, she knew it was a stupid question. Anyone could've been ringing her because she hadn't checked Caller ID again.

"_Yes. Is _he_ gone?"_

"Uh… no, he isn't." She felt a hand crawling up her side to a higher position and she squirmed under its touch, releasing a giggle as well.

"_This is ridiculous. I am trying to talk to you about something work related and _he_ has to butt in."_

Hikari heard a few deep breaths on the other side and said nothing while waiting for him to continue.

"_Have lunch with me. I can tell you what I want you to know and you will also need to come to the station to see it."_

"I don't think-"

"Go." Teru said, surprising both people who heard him. "Take Ankh with you." He looked over at the shinigami. "I want you to stop him from doing _anything_."

"_I'll pick you up in a few minutes."_

The line went dead again and Hikari gave Teru a 'are you out of your mind' look. He lightly kissed her a final time and left the room silently without any explanation. She was confused and thought that maybe he just needed to cool off since he crossed a personal line when it came to his work regime. Ankh followed her outside and he was also being quiet which she found strange. Usually he would've verbalised some opinion of his on the whole matter, especially with it concerning Raito.

* * *

Hikari picked at the small amount of food on her plate. It wasn't as if she didn't want to eat but being here alone with Raito, she had an unsettling feeling in her stomach. They weren't really alone because Ankh was with them and stayed true to his silence about making sure the man kept his hands to himself. Even in the car, Raito hadn't made a move to touch her at all. She sighed loudly to show her boredom. It had already been half an hour and he was yet to say a word. He hadn't even tried to make polite conversation.

"I want you to show me it." Raito suddenly spoke. She was surprised at the noise and her fork clattered onto the plate when it fell from her hand.

"Show you what?"

"The ring, I want to see it again." He delicately dabbed a piece of white cloth lightly to his lips as he finished his meal.

"I think you just want to see where it is hiding and not the ring itself." When he smirked in reply Hikari knew she had been right. "Tell me why I am here and why you called in the first place."

"It is going to be weird now that you don't wear glasses. I had gotten used to you wearing them again." Raito said, initially ignoring what she said. "The NPA has found some… discriminating evidence against Mello."

"What do you mean?" Hikari didn't want to believe him but knew he wouldn't just make up a lie like this. "What is this evidence?"

"That's why you need to come back with me. There was some security video footage from Yotsuba and it shows Mello with an accomplice." He leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Why are you defending him? It is obvious that he is the bad guy, give me his name and I can write it down."

"No. All my information is confidential. I don't have to tell you anything." She stood from their table and tucked her chair back in.

Raito copied her movements. "I can get a warrant. Find what I need from your office myself."

"What grounds would you have?" They had left the restaurant and were walking back to his car. Hikari pushed him against the car when they got to it and held onto his tie, her hand ready to tighten it if necessary. "Do not threaten me, it will not work. I am okay with working alongside Raito, who is a hard working detective of the NPA. But I _won't_ work with Kira."

She tried to move him out of the way so she could get into the vehicle but he stood still and stayed put. "I suppose I can live with that… for now."

* * *

"Is _that_ really necessary?" Hikari asked as she watched Raito lock the door behind them and turned off the lights.

Everything went dark and she couldn't see a thing because they were in a windowless room. He had tried to lock Ankh out of the room so he could be alone with her but the shinigami just walked through the wall and into the darkness. Hikari could feel his hands on her as he moved her somewhere in the room and then into a sitting position on a stool. After a clicking noise, a monitor in front of her came to life.

"Just watch." Raito whispered into her ear as he pressed play, his hand lingered over her lower back barely touching her.

An image appeared on the monitor and it showed a long empty hallway. He fast forwarded the video until two people appeared coming out of the elevator to the side. It was obvious that they weren't employees because of the balaclavas over their heads. Where were the employees of the company? Hikari looked at the time on the bottom right hand side of the screen. It was in the afternoon, so unless everyone always stayed in their offices, it was very suspicious.

"Can you see their names?"

She jumped when hearing his voice and hadn't realised she was leaning into the screen, hoping for the image to zoom in as well. "No, their faces are covered. I can't see anything."

One of them was definitely Mello. He was in tight leather much like what he wore when in her office the other day. She had no idea who was with him though. She could make out a long sleeve striped shirt and goggles over the balaclava but that was all. They both had guns and when she saw Mello pull out something from his vest, she recognised it as a bomb of some sort, the homemade kind. In the monitor he stuck the device to a wall, still in sight of the camera. Hikari stood up instantly which made Raito's hand positioned over her ass perfectly, but she wasn't paying any attention to it.

"Ah shit!" She shouted at the screen. "What the fuck are you doing Mello?" She knew the guy on the screen couldn't hear her but she continued talking as if he could.

Hikari had a bad enough time thinking of a possible way to defend Mello with some hope of a non-guilty verdict. With this piece of evidence, it made everything suddenly impossible. She was going to call in the blond for the following week and have a very big talking to him. Maybe she could find out who he was with as well? This changed the whole situation incredibly. What was she going to do about it now?

"I've never heard you speak with such naughty language before." Raito laughed while massaging her with his hand until she slapped it away.

"What am I going to do?" She asked, mainly just talking to herself before facing him. "Can you destroy it or something like that?"

"Tampering with the evidence is against the law. If I got caught I would lose my job." He paused for a bit, pretending to think. In reality he had already come up with every possible scenario including her asking him to do just that. "I wouldn't gain anything from helping you like this. But if we were together…"

"You're right."

"I am?" Raito couldn't help the surprise which had shown in his voice. He didn't think she would fall for it so easily.

"Of course you are." He could see her smile by the glow from the screen. "I don't want you to do anything against the law." She turned towards the monitor. "I want you to loop this. I am going to watch it until I find _something_ that could be of use to me."

Hikari had expected him to get bored or walk out and leave her to it. Instead he stayed and helped. Every hour Raito went to get them both much needed coffees. The whole clip was only just under ten minutes but they watched it over and over again. He had his input every now and then, having suggestions that were already going through her mind. She would look over just one tiny section for the whole duration before it looped over again and moved onto the next section. Was this a fake? If so, how did they fake it and who did it?

For a little while Hikari had seen her old Raito in him. Just like back in high school when he would help his father with certain cases, he had a tiny bit of spark in him that wasn't Kira related. Maybe he wasn't totally lost after all? Time went by and they ended up having delivered takeaways for dinner, even though no food was supposed to be eaten in the room at all. She had left her phone in his car and when asking for the time, Raito told her it was half past nine. Her eyes widened at the mention of the time, had they really been in here _that _long. It also saddened her because they hadn't found anything helpful.

"I should take you home." Raito said in-between yawning. He stood up and started stretching him arms and back.

Hikari tried not to stare at his chest through his shirt in the glow of the monitor. She looked away when having the urge to touch him. _No, I won't go there_. They got into his car and she checked her phone to only see one missed call and a few messages from Teru. The messages were nothing major, just telling her how he trusts her and to come home at some point during the night. There wasn't a voice message, so she didn't know how he was really feeling, it still made her smile, a very good change compared to the many missed calls she had once received from Raito.

The car ride wasn't silent this time. Ankh also decided to fly back to the apartment. Raito and Hikari talked about the security footage, they had seen it many times the whole thing was embedded into their memories. She told him that she would be arranging a meeting with Mello early the next week and will try to see what she can get out of him. They soon arrived in the parking lot of the apartment blocks where she lived. There wasn't a light on as she looked up to the floor she lived on. It would've been too early for Teru to be asleep and if he was spying, he wouldn't be able to see in the car from up there.

"So this is where you live. Mind telling me which number?" Although he laughed as he spoke, she couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.

"I'd rather not." Hikari turned a little bit towards him. "Thank you for your help, I'm really sorry for wasting so much of your time."

"Don't worry about it." He smiled at her and she couldn't see any glint in his eyes. It was dark outside so it could've just been her imagination that nothing was there.

Hikari leaned forward, aiming to kiss his cheek but he turned his head at the last second and their lips met. He held the back of her head to prevent her from backing away from him and tried to deepen the kiss. It took her a while to realise what was happening because it happened quickly. She came to her senses when she felt Raito unbuttoning the top button of her top. Placing her fingers around his wrist, she stopped him from doing anything further.

"No, I can't do this. Not with you. Not to Teru." Hikari gathered herself and buttoned her top again to cover the exposed chain around her neck.

Just as she was leaving his car, she heard him speak. "Don't forget what you can have Hikari."

She didn't look back as she entered the apartment block, only hearing his car drive away. Maybe the change in him she witnessed had just been her imagination after all.


	9. Keeping Secrets

**A/N: **Here it is. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 6

9th April 2012

"Where is it?" Teru asked as she came in from the bathroom. When she had left the bedroom to have her shower it was tidy. Now she saw it in ruins, her clothes and his were all over the floor, the bed sheets were in a pile and the mattress was overturned against the wall, all because of his search.

His question confused her. She had no idea what he was talking about. It could've been anything. "Where is what?" She was already dressed and had finished applying her make up a few moments ago.

"The ring that Ankh told me Raito gave you. Where is it?"

Hikari sent a glare at her shinigami and it didn't go unnoticed by Teru. Ankh decided to leave early and walked out of the room, presumably to wait in her office for when she arrived at work. He was not going to get away with what he had done. She pulled her hair out of the tight bun she had secured it in, suddenly deciding that she was going to have her curls down. Walking back into the bathroom and ignoring Teru, she started brushing her hair.

"Don't ignore me Hikari. Where is the ring?" He followed her into the bathroom, locking the door behind him so she had no escape route. "I checked everywhere in the room including _all_ the drawers. I found a bracelet next to your glasses case but the ring wasn't anywhere. Where are you hiding it?"

"What makes you think Ankh is telling the truth?" Hikari involuntarily stiffened when she felt him entrap her body between his own and the sink. She refused to look away from his gaze in the mirror and tried not to hit him with the brush as in went through her hair.

Teru took the hairbrush from her hand and placed in on the counter beside the sink. "Ankh prefers me over Raito, he wouldn't lie. The glare you gave him earlier is also an indicator that it is the truth." He gathered her hair around one shoulder and pressed feather light kisses on the other side of her neck. "Where is it?" He murmured as his voice was muffled by her skin.

"I'm wearing it." Her hands were gripping the counter tightly and she had her eyes closed when Teru kissed the place just below her earlobe. He flicked his tongue out, tasting her before he stood up straight again to look at her in the mirror.

"Turn around." When Hikari stayed in place and only defiantly glared at him through the mirror, Teru shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't matter."

She felt his hands move to her shoulders, slowly guiding down her arms until they reached her fingers. He felt no ring and moved his hands to her stomach. "What are you doing?" She didn't break eye contact as she realised he was unbuttoning her blouse until the last button was released, revealing her bare stomach and lace bra-encased breasts.

Teru's eyes zeroed in on the chain which went into her cleavage. His hands rested over her breasts and he pushed them together even more looking for a reaction from Hikari, but she gave him none. He unclasped the chain and pulled it up to see the ring dangling from it. "It is expensive." He said it with disgust in his voice. "I should flush it down the toilet."

"Don't do that!" She quickly turned around to stop him from moving away, grabbing the sides of his suit jacket. Ignoring the anger that flashed across his eyes Hikari continued. "Give it back Teru. Wearing it is what's stopping Kira from killing you."

"You speak as if Kira and Raito are two different people." He looked at her with disbelief but she was able to get the chain and ring out of his grasp. It would explain Raito's comment to him about not already using the Death Note to kill him.

"They are." Hikari didn't bother looking at him as she buttoned herself up again to look adequate. She had already put the necklace back on and he didn't stop her.

"No they're not." Teru lifted her chin with a finger so he could glance down into her eyes. He kissed her lips briefly and let them linger as he talked. "You are just trying to rationalise your feelings for the man."

She patted out the invisible wrinkles in his shirt and adjusted his tie slightly. Moving her arms around his neck, she pulled him towards her so their lips touched again. What started out as chaste pecks, turned into something more as Hikari deepened the kiss and her tongue began stroking his. She could feel his hands on her tighten on her waist to a bearable pain. They had to break away from each other to get much needed air in their lungs.

"You're the only one I have feelings for." Hikari said with laboured breath. Her eyes were glazed over and looking into his which were in a similar state.

"What were you doing spending all afternoon with him?"

"There was some discriminating evidence against my client." She suddenly looked saddened when remembering she had a meeting with Mello that morning. "I don't think I can do this." She whispered to the tiles on the floor.

"You can't expect me to believe you spent hours looking at some short video. Did you do anything else with him?" Teru asked but he placed a finger against her lips before she could reply. "Let me guess, he took you back to his house and the two of you did some rearranging of his furniture."

"No." She made sure not to say it too fast for him to get suspicious but also not to hesitate for too long for him to wonder if she was telling the truth. "I didn't do anything with Raito." It was a lie and she knew it, but their waters were starting to clear and she didn't want them getting murky again. This time Ankh didn't know anything to be able to rat her out. It didn't stop the guilt of being a liar any less. "I stayed to watch the security footage, trying to find _something_, but there wasn't anything else." The more true things Hikari spoke, the more she could forget about the lie she had told.

Hikari found herself squeezed against his chest as Teru brought her in for a suffocating hug. "You will figure something out. You wouldn't have taken the case up otherwise."

She smiled a little at his words but not because they lightened her mood, Hikari just wanted him to think he made her feel better. How far gone was she? She realised that he didn't even know the reason she took up the case and now she was hiding stuff and lying to him. _Just wait until you see him_. Somehow she knew Teru would want to take back his advice once he saw the leather clad guy. After quickly giving the bedroom a tidy up, they finally left the apartment and made their way to work.

* * *

Hikari smirked when she felt Teru stiffen beside her as they got out of the elevator on their storey. Sitting in one of the plush chairs outside her office was Mello. Once again he had a foot on his knee, which left very little to the imagination below the belt and in-between the legs. A half-eaten chocolate bar was in his hand. She found it strange that Watari wasn't with him, where was he? Teru possessively stood closer to her, the hand that was drawing circles on her lower back now rested on her hip, bringing her closer to him. Mello raised an arm in greeting noticing how close the other man was beside her.

"Who is that?" Teru whispered into her ear, making it seem as if he was doing more than just talking.

"That is my client." She pushed him away and laughed at the look of jealousy on his features. "We are still on for lunch right?"

"_He_ is a foreigner. Why does he need help?"

"For a foreigner, he speaks perfect Japanese." Hikari didn't know whether he purposely ignored her question or was too preoccupied with the current situation. "I can't disclose any other information with you. I will see you at lunch." She moved out of his reach when he tried to make a grab for her and walked over to Mello who stood up. "I'm sorry I'm late, but would you mind waiting a few more minutes? I need to get some stuff ready before we talk."

"Whatever." Mello said nonchalantly as he sat back down again.

She greeted Yuri who was behind her desk and entered her office. Ankh was in his regular corner and looking out the window. He didn't bother turning around but she knew he had heard her enter.

"You took a while getting here." His voice was loud. He didn't need to keep it down because no one else apart from Teru could hear him.

"Yeah and it is all because of your large mouth." Hikari whispered harshly at him, crossing her arms. "You didn't need to tell him about the ring."

"I see you put it on every day and then after your first case, you had shown it to him." Ankh walked up to her, she had to look up because he towered over her. "I did need to tell Teru, that Raito kid is no good for you."

"I'm not eighteen anymore." She walked around him and to her desk. "What would you do if I specifically asked you to keep that cookie eating mouth of yours shut?"

"If you also gave me more cookies, I would keep silent, depending on how you word the question." The shinigami paused briefly. "I would do anything for you if you asked. But if there are loopholes around speaking to Teru, I will find it and use it. I want you to live to the longest possible age you can and being with Teru will give you it."

Hikari massaged her temples. "Ankh, can you please not tell Teru _anything_? Not about Raito, or where I go, or even my past, nothing at all. Tell him _nothing_." She tried to think of a way around what she just asked and if she needed to add any more to it. Not being able to find any faults and also not having enough time to deliberate every word, she left it how it was. "There is also something else I would like you to do."

"What is it?"

"Can you go to Yotsuba? I want to know if there is anything they are hiding that I could use in this case." She stared at Ankh for a moment. "You're the only one who can truly help me with this."

"Fine, it shouldn't take me that long." The shinigami left through the wall and Hikari took a deep breath.

When she calmed herself down, she busied herself to get ready the necessary papers she was supposed to when talking with Ankh. In the back of her mind she could see Teru and his reaction to finding out what happened between her and Raito. Hikari knew that the guilt of not telling him will consume her until she told him the truth. She wanted to wait until the stress of the case was over first and because of that she tried to push him back and close him behind one of the imaginary doors in her mind, putting many chained locks around it.

Hikari went to her door and looked over at Mello who was peeling off the foil of a new chocolate bar. There was no bag with him, so where had he hidden it? Maybe that was what caused the bulge in his leather pants? "Mello, you can come in now."

He stood again and walked by her, sitting down in the same chair he did the previous time he was in her office. "Do you always have a habit of talking to yourself?"

She froze when he asked the question. "Well, yeah." She laughed and glanced at him quickly before turning away. "I would get teased for it in high school."

"Right… why did you call me in today?"

"I found some evidence last week." Hikari sat behind her desk and faced him, resting her chin on hands as she stared at him. "It is the type of evidence that is going to make my job a whole lot harder... Mello, we need to have another talk."


	10. Another of L's Successors

**A/N: **Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 7

9th April 2012

"Dammit Mello!" Hikari shouted out while slamming her hands on her desk.

The guy she yelled at visibly flinched and his chocolate bar fell onto the floor in front of him after bouncing off one of his legs. She didn't even bother starting with a talk and went straight to the frustration she was feeling. He looked confused but stayed silent as she began ranting incoherent words. Hikari stood up and started pacing around the room. All he could manage to hear was 'video', 'accomplice' and 'bomb'. Having enough, Mello also stood and grabbed her shoulders to stop her movement. Surprisingly, she ended up staring into his blue eyes with her green ones because they were the same height.

"Just stop it. You're giving me a headache." Mello said and massaged one temple with a hand to prove his point. "You mentioned something about evidence, what was it?"

"You lied to me Mello!" Hikari leaned back on her desk. "The NPA got hold of some security footage that shows a masked you with someone else, placing a bomb on some wall."

"That's impossible! Matt cut all the feed of the cameras inside so that there wouldn't be any evidence." He cursed and went to sit back down. Picking up the chocolate bar, he sniffed it before chucking it in the bin.

"Well this Matt didn't get all of them… wait, what am I even saying?" She got up really close to him and flicked his forehead. "You told me you didn't enter the building, saying that you _ran and hid_. You're an idiot! Why did I even agree to take this case? My reputation is going to go down the drain." The last bit she said out of self-pity.

"Ouch." Mello muttered rubbing his forehead. "Does it matter if I told the truth or not? It isn't as if the bomb was real or anything, did you see it blow up the place?"

Hikari stilled for a few seconds, thinking back to the video which was imprinted in her mind. _No._ "The footage cut out before anything like that happened. I'm not too sure." She scowled to herself, now she was going to have to ring up Raito. "The bomb looked real, how could it have been a fake?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "Matt came up with the idea. He took a small radio apart, added more wires to it and some blinking lights. There were no explosives in it or even a detonator for it."

"How do I know that you aren't just lying to me again?"

"I'm not, okay!" Mello unzipped his leather vest, showing a pale toned chest underneath. Red rosary beads with a cross attached to them could be seen hanging from his neck. "This belonged to my father when he was alive. I swear on it that I didn't blow up the Yotsuba building."

Hikari took long deep breaths and closed her eyes. "Whatever." She cringed as she spoke like him. "I will need to meet this Matt guy, is that even his real name?"

"Nah, all of us Wammy kids were given aliases and that was his." He started staring off into space as if remembering an old memory.

"Wammy?" She remembered seeing it as Watari's real last name. What was his role in all of this?

"Forget I said anything." Mello grimaced at his own slip of the tongue. He would have to be careful from now on. "I can probably get in contact with Matt and come back this afternoon sometime."

"Yes, I think that will be a good idea." She went over to open her office door. "Then you will be able to tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth this time."

* * *

Ankh still wasn't back from Yotsuba as she stayed in her office, gathering pieces of information and sorting out some files that needed to be locked away. Her hand would hover over her cell phone which was lying on her desk, she needed to call Raito and ask about the security footage but every time she would enter his number in, Hikari would cancel it. The call could wait until near the end of the work day, she reasoned that he was probably busy with police work as well as whatever he did to make the Kira trail go cold for the task force.

It was close to lunch when she had her phone in her hand again and the ringing that came from it, caused her to drop the device in fright. Picking it up from the floor, she looked at the Caller ID to see Raito was calling her. _What could he possibly want?_ Answering the phone, she decided to have some semblance of nice in her voice. "Hello?"

"_What are you doing for lunch?"_

His question made her pause. Yuri was probably a few metres away from her, why wasn't he on the phone with her asking that question? "I'll probably be having it with Teru, my _boyfriend_."

"_How did your meeting with Mello go?"_

She almost laughed at the way he changed the conversation topic. "Turns out he was lying to me." Hikari replied and was about to say more before she realised who she was talking to. "It's none of your business though, but I do need one thing from you now that we are talking."

"_What is it?"_

"The security footage, did the NPA shorten it or did it cut out naturally?"

"_I had looked over it before calling you. There was lots of footage before the guys turned up with the bomb but after they attached it to the wall, it cut out, just like you saw. Did you want to come over and have a look at it again?"_

"No, it should be fine. I'll wait to see what they have to say when they come back in." Hikari knew she had a much longer time to wait before that happened.

"_How about I take you out for dinner? I'm sure you will need help with the case, I'm smarter than Teru and would be of more help-"_

"Bye Raito." Hikari hung up on him mid-sentence and quickly deleted her call history before throwing the phone on her desk.

The door opened and Teru came in, looking around he asked her where Ankh was.

"I asked him to help me with my case." Hikari said vaguely, she walked over to him and kissed his lips. "Are we going out for lunch?"

"Yes." He wrapped his arms around her waist, their little fight that morning forgotten. "There's this bakery down the road I saw and thought we could get something to eat there."

It took them a few minutes to walk to the bakery Teru mentioned. He didn't feel like driving and she enjoyed the time they spent together. She had her arm wound through his as they walked side by side. Delicious smells wafted to them as they entered. After getting their food and a coffee each, they sat in a secluded booth near the back and started eating in silence. They talked with safe topics mainly about how his work was going and if there were any new cases.

"What are your thoughts on marriage?" Teru asked suddenly, taking her by surprise.

Hikari started coughing because the coffee was almost swallowed when he started talking. Luckily she didn't spit it out all over him. "Uh… I never really thought about it." She said after he finished patting her back.

Instead of moving back to his side of the booth, Teru stayed next to her. With a hand on her knee, they carried on eating and drinking until their lunch break was over. Neither said another word, keeping their thoughts to whatever was in their minds. She stayed in his office when they went back to work. There was nothing important she needed to do until Mello turned up with Matt. Sitting on his desk next to his paperwork, she crossed one leg over the other, her skirt rising up ever so slightly to reveal more skin. She could see his eyes flickering over to her more often and the grip on his pen increasing. In reality, Hikari was unaware of what she was doing, thinking over the question he had asked her during lunch.

_What are your thoughts on marriage?_ "I can never get married." Hikari whispered, knowing that he could hear her clearly. In a way she wanted to explain her words, make him realise it wasn't because of him. "If we were to get married, I wouldn't have an alias anymore and Kira could kill me."

She turned to him as he looked up at her. It was obvious he wanted to say something, but the knock on his door interrupted them.

"Hikari." Yuri's small voice was heard on the other side. "That elderly man is here again, this time there is someone else with him."

"I'll be right there." Hikari got off the desk without looking back at Teru and went to greet Watari.

With him was a boy with similar unruly hair to what she remembered L having. Instead of being jet black, it was quite the opposite colour of white. She looked over his strange attire of a white pyjama shirt and pants. He wore no shoes, another similarity with the dead detective. In his hands was a robotic toy that would normally be seen in a child's hand instead of someone who was nearing the end of his teenage years. Finally looking up to his real name she noticed that strangely enough he had no life span showing. This must've been the _albino_ that Mello talked about and it appeared that he also owned a Death Note as well.

"Come into my office and take a seat wherever." She told them and opened her door waiting for the two to enter first. "I hope you don't have another case for me Watari." Hikari said in a joking manner, sitting behind her desk.

"Your name is Shimizu Hikari, correct?" The teenager who looked like a young boy said. He worded it as a question but somehow she knew he already had the right answer.

He sat next to Watari in another chair, one of his legs were brought up to his chest while the other was left dangling over the side. His toy was moving about on the flattened leg and he kept his concentration on it. A finger was twirling some strands of his hair around the digit and it made her feel like doing the same with her own hair. Hikari stared at him transfixed and realised she still hadn't answered him when he finally tore his attention away from the toy to look at her.

"Yes, that's right." She answered, coughing a bit to hide some of her embarrassment of staring for too long. "What is your name?"

"You can call me N."

Looking back up to his real name, it made sense, though she wondered what his alias was. "What can I do for you today N?"

"I'm head of the SPK, better known as the Special Provision for Kira. It is a group which has CIA and FBI members in it to catch Kira." His paused after knocking over his robot when saying 'catch Kira' and looked over to her again. "I understand that just over five years ago, _you_ were suspected of being Kira."

"That is right."

"The other suspect was Yagami Raito who is working in the task force. They are also trying to catch Kira but are so far unsuccessful." Having nothing in one of his hands, he began fiddling with the material of his pants.

"Do you suspect that after all this time one of us could still be Kira?" Hikari asked, keeping her voice calm and not breaking any eye contact with him.

"Yes. You both have jobs that would be very convenient for Kira."

"Do you have any evidence?" She started becoming uncomfortable around him and just wanted the conversation to end.

"That is confidential." He crouched off the chair and picked up his toy. "I suspect that you are busy, so I will be leaving. Expect to get another visit sometime soon."

Just as he was about to leave, Mello entered the room with a guy holding some gaming device in his hands. Ankh also entered behind them, having finished what he was doing at Yotsuba. She saw the shinigami glance over to the side, slightly raising his arm before moving to behind her. She would have to question him later about it but with many people in her office it was impossible at that moment.

"What is this twit doing here?" Mello shouted, glaring at the white haired boy.

"Mello, Matt." N greeted them. "I'm just finishing L's work." He said it smugly and left with Watari. Hikari was surprised he didn't just hold the elderly man's hand.

Matt who was still concentrating on his game didn't look up once as he made his way to a chair and sat down on it. He was wearing goggles and the striped shirt she saw in the security footage. She wondered how he hadn't been caught yet because he was being so obvious about it, with not changing his clothes. Mello started chewing on a new chocolate bar, one he was determined to not drop and ruin on the floor this time.

All Hikari wanted to do was kick them out, so she could speak with Ankh. Doing some quick thinking she thought up a better plan. "I'm just going for a quick toilet break." She mentioned, blushing a little bit at the untrue confession which was still embarrassing to say aloud. "I shouldn't be long."

Mello shrugged his shoulders at her and Matt did nothing as she left the room.

Once in the bathroom she turned towards her shinigami which she knew would follow her. "Who was it you greeted in my office?"

"A shinigami is haunting the white boy." Ankh was sure she was going to question him about Yotsuba first, but he was happy to answer these other questions.

"Do you know who the other shinigami is?"

"Yes." Ankh nodded his head. "Her name is Rem."

Hikari remembered his story about the female shinigami who had been nice to him during the time he was imprisoned. "How was she able to get another Death Note?"

"I don't know. She must've given it to the boy though."

"It explains why I couldn't see his life span." Hikari looked in the mirror, only able to see her real name and no life span as well. "This will make everything difficult. He is after Kira and he owns a Death Note. Let's hope he doesn't make a trade for the eyes too."


	11. Promises

**A/N: **This is the last of the 9th and from now on things will be going along faster. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 8

9th April 2012

"No! I didn't tell you to jump into the lava!" Matt yelled out in anger as Hikari walked into the room.

She was able to move out of the way just in time as the gaming device flew towards her. It went through the opened door and the action was apparently accidental, as the guy apologised profusely for almost hitting her. She was able to see his name and life span quickly, without seeming obvious about it. Although his eyes were covered by the goggles, the majority of his face was exposed which allowed her to see the red flowing letters and digits. It became apparent that their aliases were based on their real names. Did they know it was very similar to how L had his alias?

Mello was sitting next to his friend with a bored expression on his features. A chocolate bar was in his hand that was only half eaten. Matt was looking at the closed door wondering whether he should leave to go get his game or to just leave it alone. He must've decided to keep it where it was because he didn't get up from his sitting position and just stared at the door with a lost expression on his face. It was as if he was bound to die at any moment because he didn't have it in his hands, only she knew it wasn't true.

The door was opened with no knocking and Yuri came in to hand Hikari the game. "I was lucky this didn't hit me. I'm surprised it isn't broken, he threw it quite hard."

She looked at the object in her hands and saw the words 'GAME OVER' blinking continuously. Not understanding how a virtual death could result in such anger, she saw Matt's glove covered fingers twitching as if he was holding the gaming device. "Matt, is it?" Hikari asked.

He stared at her through the goggles. "Yeah, I'm really sorry about before." He apologised again. "I didn't realise what I was doing."

"It's okay." She laughed and smiled in a friendly manner at him. "Can you take your goggles off please? I want to be able to see you properly when speaking to you."

Matt glanced over at Mello, who nodded his head and with sure hands, the brunette took off the orange goggles he was wearing. "Sure." Dark blue eyes met hers as he gave a small smile and he pointed to the game. "Can I have that back now?"

"Sure." Hikari repeated his own reply and handed him the device. "Just don't play it while in here, I don't want to deal with any more angry outbursts."

"I told you not to bring it." Mello whispered harshly to him, elbowing Matt in the ribs.

"Ouch!" Matt hissed while rubbing his sore side. "You know I can't last without it, leave me alone."

"Mello, I need you to tell me what happened before and after you entered the Yotsuba building." Hikari said, wanting them to stop their bickering. They should've been old enough to realise how childish it was, but boys will be boys.

"I was given a job by the yakuza to blow up part of the Yotsuba building, like I told you-"

She interrupted him before he barely started. "Is Matt part of the yakuza as well?"

"Hell no! I'm not that stupid!" Matt shouted. The look of disgust on his face disappeared after Mello sent him a glare. "Not that Mello is stupid or anything. He's the smartest guy I know. Well apart from L, but he's dead now. Mello is definitely smarter than Near, we-" He was rambling on and Hikari couldn't help but cut him off, it was becoming quite a habit of hers.

"Who is Near?"

"He is that albino brat who was in here a while ago, the one who was talking to you." Mello sneered. "Let me guess, he decided to call himself 'number one' or 'L's true successor'. Damn twit can't help but ruin my glory."

_Here we go again_. She couldn't keep the thought from her mind, it was becoming obvious that this guy _really_ didn't like Near. "He only told me to call him N."

"Of course, he wants to be closer to L. Doesn't he realise that M comes straight after L and N comes after M? He's last." The blond pointed to himself. "I'm M."

"What about Matt? Wouldn't he be an M as well?" Hikari asked and saw Matt beam up with the unintentional compliment.

"He's a little M. I'm _much_ bigger and better than him."

She noticed how he didn't even use the word 'smart' in the last sentence. "Okay so the yakuza gave you a job…"

"Matt made a bomb but when we arrived at the place I could see even from outside that the part of the building we were supposed to blow up was teeming with people. Like I said before, I don't murder innocents. So I got Matt to remove all the explosive stuff from the bomb, obviously he didn't take it all out…" Mello surmised.

"Are you saying I don't know my stuff? Because I would like to see you handle a bomb without it blowing up in your face and giving you an ugly scar!" Matt yelled at him defensively.

"Even if I had a scar, I would still be better looking than you!"

"Stop it!" Hikari shouted. Their arguing was beginning to give her a headache. "We don't know whether it was your fake bomb that blew up the building or if someone else planted another one. Just get on with the rest of the story, what happened next?"

"Before we entered Matt was supposed to cut off all of the security cameras, obviously he is incapable of that job as well." Mello sent a look at the guy beside him who ended up just losing it altogether.

"Fuck you Mello!" Matt stood and went over to the office door, game in his hand. "This is the last time I help your sorry ass out!" The door was slammed behind him and it shook the room, she wouldn't have been surprised if it shook the building with the force the brunette used.

"Don't worry about him." Mello said when he saw her eyebrows draw inwards. "After he has a tantrum and kills a few bosses, I'll find him back at the apartment."

"Are you sure?" She didn't like the idea of him killing a few yakuza bosses.

"Yes, this isn't the first time I've pissed him off." He stretched and placed his hands behind his head. "You saw what happened when we entered. I took the fake bomb out and stuck it to the wall. If the yakuza found out it didn't blow up I was going to use the excuse that there must've been some fault with it, but I never got the chance to say anything. I read about the building and then policemen arrested me. I didn't do it!"

"I have to let you know…" Hikari began and she walking over to him and sat in a chair beside him. "You could've told me all this from the beginning, why did you lie to me?"

Mello was looking at the floor, his chocolate bar fully eaten. "As much as I don't want to admit it, I need help. By lying, I had a better chance of you accepting the case."

She let out a deep sigh. "You do need help, but I don't know if I'll be able to win this case, I didn't think I had a chance before I found out about the lie." Hikari stated honestly and stood up. "You need to leave now, there's nothing you can do until the hearing. I'll contact you if any more evidence comes up."

He left her office without saying anything.

* * *

Hikari entered the building and knew it was a mistake, but that realisation didn't stop her from going to the reception desk. She was inside the National Police Agency, not because she needed to see the security footage some more but she was going to get Raito to ask her out for dinner. Whether she needed to or not was an entirely different matter but for the sake of saving her Death Note, she had to warn him about Near.

Teru didn't know about her trip here, she told him that she needed to stay in the office to work on her case. Ankh certainly wasn't pleased when he found out about her other plans. The shinigami complained all the way over on the train, but Hikari didn't change her mind. She reasoned that her Death Note was a top priority, because if anything were to happen to it, then she would no longer be able to see Ankh and all the years spent with him would become forgotten.

"Can I help you Miss?" The man behind the counter asked.

"Yes." Hikari gave him her best smile. "I was wondering if you could contact Yagami Raito and tell him that Shimizu Hikari is downstairs waiting for him. He's supposed to be taking me out to dinner." She didn't have to add the last bit, but smiled when the male receptionist mentioned a 'dinner date' over the phone to Raito.

The young detective was on the ground floor within minutes. He smiled when saw she was really there and it hadn't been some cruel joke. Raito was surprised when she placed her arm through his, much like how she did with Teru earlier that day. She told herself it was to keep up the image for receptionists and not because she wanted to feel the way his muscles flexed underneath the suit.

"Where do you want to go?" Raito asked when he got into driver's side of his car.

"Somewhere that no one will see us."

"Mikami doesn't know about you coming to see me?" He kept his eyes on the road but the smirk was evident of his face.

"I'm pretty sure Yuri doesn't either." Hikari shot right back at him, but his features didn't falter. "You don't even care."

"Why should I? I am only using her." Raito sent her a sideways glance but couldn't see her expression because she was looking out the side window. In the rear view mirror he could see both shinigami sitting in the back seat but they were too big that some pieces of them went through the roof and sides.

"Just like you used me." She whispered, not expecting him to hear her.

He placed his hand on her bare knee, making Hikari jump in her seat. "What I made you do was wrong of me. I should've found some other way to get rid of L."

"Please don't talk about it." Hikari didn't believe him and was going to push his hand off but he moved it to park the car and she looked around the darkening area. They were in the park parking lot. "Why are we here?"

"No one will see us here, especially if we stay in the car." Raito face her. "I'm not hungry and I'm sure you're not either. Why are you here?"

"I need to warn you about someone. He goes by the name Near or N, has white hair and just as weird as L."

"He has already made contact with the task force but we haven't seen him." He had grabbed her hand to hold when she was distracted and started rubbing the top of it with his thumb. "He introduced himself as N and his voice was distorted, so we have no idea what he is really like."

"There is a shinigami following him called Rem. He owns a Death Note." She tried to unhinge his hand from hers but only succeeded in getting her other hand caught by his. "I need you to promise me that nothing will happen to my Death Note."

Without any hesitation he gave her the two words she wanted to hear. "I promise." Using a hand to cup her cheek, he brought her face closer to his so that their noses were touching.

"I also want you to promise me something else." Hikari whispered because they were in a hearing distance that didn't require anything louder.

"Anything." Raito still had the Death Note and usually that was the only thing to matter, but right at that moment, he had a chance to have something else. Something that would take some effort getting, so the word he spoke was the truth, he would promise the next thing she wanted.

"Promise me that you won't ask me to kill anyone. I have_ his_ real name but I'm not going to use it."

"I promise."

If Hikari said she wanted to stop what happened next, she would be lying. She had even placed her hands against his chest, going to push him away but only drew him closer. Their lips touched in a gentle kiss, which grew more intense as the seconds went by. Both shinigami at the back of the car made noises of disgust and one went as far as to mutter 'idiot'. Her hands scrunched up the material of his shirt which was probably going to leave creases when they released him.

Raito's hands went to behind her head and his fingers ran through the strands of her hair. It was soft and he relished the feeling of it. Before she made a move to get over to the other side and straddle his lap, Hikari finally pushed him away. His back hit the door and he grunted at the minor pain it caused him. They were both breathing heavily and she busied herself by checking how bad her makeup was in the mirror, fixing it where necessary. He ran a hand through his own hair which messed it up from the perfectly straight look.

"_That_ will never happen again." Hikari said, trying to convince herself.

"Of course it won't." Turning on the car, Raito pulled out of the parking lot. "I'll take you home."

Neither of them had noticed that sitting on a bench in the park was a boy with white hair who looked like he belonged in bed because of his attire. He had been staring at them, a finger curling a strand of his already messy curled hair. It had been a coincidence that he was in the park when they arrived and he had witnessed the whole encounter. His mind was now thinking up of different ways to connect them both to the Kira case. One of them _had _to be Kira.


	12. A Shinigami's Investigation

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait, but it is here. Although Ankh has the shinigami eyes (obviously), I was descriptive with the Yotsuba members because I don't think that some of them are well known by their names (plus I think it will be easier to picture them this way). Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 9

14th April 2012

"I want you to quit the case." Teru said between each push together of his arms as he worked out in the gym.

Ever since Teru had found out about the ring she wore, he was spending all of his spare time at the gym, a big difference from the tight schedule he liked to keep. Hikari didn't complain because she got to reap the benefits of his intense workouts. Today she decided to come along with him and just watch, being alone in the apartment with Ankh started getting boring and it didn't help with the death glares he would send her. She was glad that so far the shinigami had kept his word of not saying anything to her boyfriend.

"You're overreacting." Hikari said with her eyes on the way his muscles convulsed with each push. "I'm not quitting the case."

"It's too dangerous." He stopped his workout and pulled her onto him, picking her up so she was straddling his lap.

She squealed and looked around, glad that no one was in the gym to see them. "What are you doing? Someone could walk in at any minute."

"I have to convince you somehow." Teru grabbed her ass in his hands and pulled her closer so she was resting against his crotch. "Makes this more interesting, don't you think?"

"This isn't appropriate. You could lose your membership." Hikari pushed at his chest, feeling the muscles underneath his black shirt, when he tried to kiss her. "You're all sweaty." She scrunched up her face and turned away from him.

"Stop trying to make up excuses." He started kissing her newly exposed neck. "If you're afraid of the money you are losing then I can take up the case for you, I'm sure this Watari man would understand."

She moaned into his ear as he grinded into her. "How about I get a page of the Death Note and carry it with me at all times? Then if my life is in danger I can kill that person."

"By getting the page, you would need to associate with Yagami. I would prefer it if you just let me take on the case." Teru murmured, his lips lightly touching hers as he spoke. When he licked his lips, she felt the moisture of his tongue on her own lips and leaned closer to kiss him.

Hikari traced the small slit of his mouth with her tongue and pulled back when he opened it for her. "No more unless you let me keep the case."

He sighed deeply but nodded, giving in. "I suppose you should get a Death Note page as well, I don't want to leave your life to any chances." Resting his forehead on hers, his hands caressed the skin under her top. "If I didn't love you, I would say that you are too stubborn."

"We shouldn't be doing this." She whispered as soon as she felt her top getting removed and his lips on her bare shoulder, placing feather light kisses to it.

"I am the only one who works out here over the weekend. We have nothing to worry about." Teru smiled when he felt her shiver under his touch.

Hikari's fingers traced his slightly defined muscles that could be seen through his shirt. It was soon taken off because she didn't want the thin piece of cloth in her way. "What about the security cameras?"

"This is a private gym. All members are highly respected and trustworthy individuals." He knew her resolve was slowly crumbling and would only take a few more kisses in the right spots for it to disappear altogether.

"I can't believe that I'm letting you do this." She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling as he kissed he throat, the vibrations of his laughter tickled but the pleasure of his hands wouldn't let her give in to a giggle. Her eyes closed as she let him lead this passionate act between them.

* * *

9th April 2012

It wasn't hard for the shinigami to enter the Yotsuba Company. None of the security cameras were able to see him and it wasn't as if anyone else could either. The blown up part of the building was taped so no one would be able to access it. The employees were all running around and doing their errands, paying no mind to anyone else. It didn't take long for Ankh to figure out that the more important employees of the company were situated on the higher levels of the building. He ascended up until he reached a room with seven important looking people in it. The shinigami stood off in a corner and decided to listen into the conversation that was happening.

"Whoever killed Hatori definitely wasn't Kira, it just isn't his style." A bald man wearing small glasses said.

"This is the work of the yakuza." A man with shaggy brown hair and glasses stated. "One of us is working with them."

"It won't do us any good talking negatively about them." The man with the longest hair out of them all spoke. "We will just end up like Hatori."

"If that is the case Namikawa, why don't we use them to our advantage?" The guy, who made the shinigami think of a disease ridden rat, mentioned.

A guy with shoulder length blond hair and a moustache scoffed. "Higuchi that is preposterous."

"He might have a point." The man with short black hair and glasses said. "This would be a great way to knock out some of the competition. Though I thought the only side yakuza was on, was their own side."

"You're right, we have no proof that yakuza is even on our side." A man with just brown messy hair said.

"How about we decide on someone to kill?" Higuchi suggested.

"If yakuza are on our side then that person will be dead next week." Shaggy with glasses surmised.

The meeting ended soon after discussing if there should be any specific details to the death. A decision was made for the CEO of a competitor's company to die by 'committing suicide'. They all got up to leave, going to their different departments in the company. Ankh was suspicious of one man and followed him, hoping that he made the right decision. When they were alone in his office, he saw the one named Kyosuke Higuchi, Head of Technology, pull out a cell phone and dial a number before placing it near his ear.

"They're all idiots."

There was murmuring on the other end of the phone which Ankh wasn't able to hear.

"They had originally thought Kira was behind this." He laughed while leaning back in his chair and putting his feet on the desk. "Kira is useless against masked identities."

More talking happened between Higuchi and the mysterious person over the phone, which became boring to the shinigami. They were discussing the killing of the guy that had been designated as the victim and the details around it. Obviously the person on the other end was an influential yakuza member, if not the one in charge of the organised criminal family.

"Is that blond in jail?" Higuchi asked. "What? Who is assigned as his lawyer?"

After hearing the rest of the conversation, Ankh left and the first thought he had was about how much trouble Hikari was likely to get in by continuing the case. His second thought was on Ryuk and how the lanky shinigami would find this whole situation _interesting_. He needed to get to Hikari as soon as possible and tell her what he had just heard. Someone was going to need to save her and it might just have to be him.

* * *

16th April 2012

Hikari stood outside the door and knocked lightly, hoping that he might not hear her. She hadn't seen him since when she warned him about Near, a few days ago. Instead of ringing him up that day she decided to cowardly text him for the address to his apartment, scared that if she heard his voice, he might convince her to do something she tried to reason with herself, she didn't want. Ankh decided to stay in the car with Teru, something her boyfriend wasn't too pleased about because he didn't trust the other man at all. Standing in the same spot for more than a few minutes, she turned to leave just when the front door opened. Raito in his perfect glory stood there and she stared at him for a bit longer than necessary.

"Come in. Yuri was just make dinner if you want to stay." He held out a hand to her but she just nudged him aside, a mistake when she saw that the task force was in his lounge staring at her.

"Uh… maybe I should come back another time." Hikari moved to leave but Raito blocked her exit. "Teru is waiting outside, I can't be long."

"What did you want?" Raito asked, placing a hand on her lower back as a friendly gesture.

"Remember that _note_ I gave you. It specified exactly what I needed." She spoke to him easily, trying not to sound suspicious in front of the other police officers.

"It is in my room." He moved away from her and gestured for her to follow. "I have a few things that need to be discussed with you first."

Hikari followed him with uncertainty. She was torn because bad things would surely happen when they were alone in his room, but the only way for her to get part of the Death Note would be without the others seeing. It didn't help knowing that Yuri, her secretary and Raito's current girlfriend, was in the kitchen preparing a large meal. Once in the room, Raito closed the door and silently locked it. He strode towards her with a speed that she felt it necessary to move backwards and accidently fell on his bed. Or maybe he had planned for this to happen? She tried to get up into a sitting position, but he was quick and pushed her back until he was over her, also on the bed.

"Are you asking for the Death Note back?" His eyes had an angry glint in them and his whisper had a menacing tone to it. His nose traced the contour of her neck and didn't like the unfamiliar smell that was obviously from Teru.

Hikari shook her head rapidly until she found her voice to speak. "No, I just need one page."

"What for?"

"The case I am taking, the one with Mello… somehow the yakuza are involved and I may be in danger." Hikari was also whispering, not trusting the task force members on the other side who could quite possibly be over taken with curiosity and try listening through the door.

Raito stayed quiet for a while as he hovered over her. "Drop the case, let Teru take over it."

"Wow, you and Teru actually agree on something." She joked, but stopped smiling when he obviously didn't find her comment funny. "You just don't want me to have any of the Death Note."

"That isn't it. I don't want you putting yourself in danger." He got off her and moved to the desk at the side of the room. "I made a compartment for both of the notebooks. I don't want anyone seeing Ryuk by accident."

"Where is Ryuk?" Hikari asked when he handed her the page she was wanting. Folding it, she placed it in her pocket.

"He is probably in the lawn beside the apartment blocks. Down there are a few apple trees." Raito held onto her hips and pulled her close to him, giving a chaste kiss on her lips.

She pushed him away and tried not to shout out. "What are you doing? Everyone is right in the next room and Yuri is here!"

"When are you going to admit that you belong to me and give yourself fully to me again?" He asked, moving towards his bedroom door and silently unlocking it.

"Never."

"It isn't good to be a liar, Hikari." Raito opened the door and began talking as if he had finished explaining something to her. "I'm sorry but it still has a few more weeks to go, I will drop it off at your office when it's ready. You should stay for dinner since you came all this way just to be disappointed."

Hikari looked over at Matsuda who was standing off to the side, closer to the bedroom door than he was when she arrived. As soon as their eyes met, he looked away and blushed. Turning back to Raito she tried to give him an apologetic smile. "I can't, as I told you before, Teru is waiting for me outside." She faced the rest of the room which consisted of the task force members, Yuri must've still been cooking in the kitchen. "It was nice meeting the men who are risking their lives to catch Kira. I hope you do succeed." She noticed that Raito grabbed her wrist in a tight grip, trying to pull her away. "Mr. Yagami, it is good to see you again even if it is brief."

The elder Yagami couldn't meet her eyes, suddenly remembering the disturbing images of the compromising positions he saw her and his son in while they had been dating many years ago. Back when there were cameras in both of their homes.

She left, wiping her lips on the way out and quickly went to the car across the street. A jealous looking Teru greeted her. "What was taking you so long?"

"All the task force members were there, we had to be discreet." Hikari leant over and kissed his cheek. "I didn't do anything." She hoped she looked and sounded sincere.

His eyes narrowed slightly and they travelled down to her lips. For a second she thought he would know that Raito had indeed kissed her, even if it was only a short one. Instead of accusing Hikari of lying he bent down and pressed his lips against hers in a much longer kiss, gently biting on her lower lip as he moved back, a hand had travelled to the back of her head, caressing her hair softly. "You are mine and he better well know it."


	13. A Faux Favour and Threat

**A/N: **It is here (finally!), enjoy! x

* * *

24th May 2012

Why had Watari really asked her to take on Mello's case? There were obviously more successful and experienced lawyers in this firm, _she _wasn't even a professional one. This morning Hikari had done nothing concerning the case even though the hearing was going to be held in the following week. Her thoughts were on the elderly man, the blond and also the albino. Mello and Near, how were they connected? Obviously they had history and not a very good one, which also included L somehow. She felt like a detective, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together.

All she had on the case was what Ankh had told her about his visit. It wasn't proper evidence. She wouldn't even be able to prove it in court. What was she going to say? That a Death God was haunting her, he had been for most of her life and she asked him to snoop around Yotsuba for her? They would label her crazy, send her away and she would lose everything she worked so hard to gain. Maybe being locked up in an asylum wasn't such a bad idea. She would get away from all this Kira business and have Ankh as company. She would definitely seem crazy talking to herself. Hikari scrunched her face up. The down side was she would be put on meds and _that_ was something she didn't want.

Raito. He _was_ a detective and might be able to find some actual evidence she could use. Along with helping her out with Mello and Near. It would work, Hikari was sure of it. She just needed to find an excuse to use Teru's car. The shock on her face would've be evident if anyone walked into her office. The first thought of trying to make up an excuse surprised her. Why not just tell him the truth? Because 'hi honey, I just want to use your car to meet up with a man you hate. I can't say for sure if nothing will happen since the last few times something has' just wouldn't work.

Hikari grabbed her phone and sent Raito a text, asking him if he wanted to meet up. A fast reply returned and they soon made arrangements to meet at a bakery twenty minutes away. It was to avoid bumping into anyone who would know them and could possibly ruin the lie she was about to tell two people. She quickly stood and left her office, giving Yuri a quick explanation about needing to go out for the case. Knocking on Teru's office door, there was a long wait before a gruff response to enter.

"Is now a bad time?" Hikari asked him, noting how he seemed in an angry mood.

"Of course not, never for you." Teru said, standing to meet her by the door. "What do you want?"

"I have planned a meeting with Mello out of the office, I was wondering if I could borrow the car?" She asked, trying not to avoid his gaze which would make her seem insincere.

"Is the office not good enough?"

"I thought since it was so close to lunch that we would spend it out of the office." Hikari turned around not being able to look him in the eyes. "Maybe I can get him to reveal more that will be helpful to the case with a change of scenery."

"Okay, just be back in time to pick me up from work." He said as he pulled her towards him and into his embrace, her back against his chest.

She left the office quickly after that and had a brief thought of Mello entering the office while she was gone. Teru would definitely figure out her lie and she couldn't let that happen. When had she turned into someone who could betray so easily? Hikari wanted to blame it on Raito's new appearance into her life but she knew that she was the only one to blame for her own actions. Getting her cell phone from her bag, she buttoned in the blond's number and waited for him to pick up. She couldn't risk using the firm's phone line because she was certain that they were monitored constantly.

"_Hello?"_

"Mello, it is Hikari." She spoke quietly before she exited the building and walked through the full car park. "Don't come into the office at all today."

"_Why not?"_

The curiosity in his voice did not go unnoticed by her, she had a feeling he would figure out what she was up to and hoped he didn't do anything just because he felt like it. "Please, just don't come in."

"_Okay."_

Hikari next heard the dead ringtone as Mello hung up. It almost seemed too easy and she was instantly suspicious. Maybe she needed to think up of another excuse to make up for her possible failed one. _No. _She had lied enough, after this rendezvous with Raito it would all stop. There was nothing else she could do and just concentrated on driving to the bakery where Raito should be waiting. Knowing the man, he would want to be there early. Not because he was being courteous and didn't want her waiting, he probably wanted to buy the cake he felt like she should eat. She wondered how he had initially handled it when she broke up with him those years ago, every plan he had in his mind would've been ruined.

Arriving at the bakery, she indeed saw Raito sitting in a back booth. Just like she had thought, there was already food on the table. Instead of hers being opposite his, it was beside him. He obviously wanted her to sit next to him. She could've snob him off and sit next to Ryuk who was on the other side of the booth but Hikari knew that Ankh would hate her if he had to sit next to the man he loathed so much. As soon as she was next to him, Raito had his hand on her knee with his fingers moving underneath the hem of her skirt.

"I bought you a carrot cake and even got Ankh a cookie." For some reason the word 'cookie' coming out of his mouth didn't seem right and she laughed until he asked. "Why did you ask to meet me here?"

"I need your help?"

"Is Teru not as satisfying in bed as you originally thought?" Raito smirked at his own joke, but didn't get a reaction from her which slightly disappointed him.

Hikari shook her head, her gaze on his hand that was touching her. "I want to ask if there is a way for you to create some evidence to make the case go in Mello's favour. I know that Yotsuba, or one part of the company, is working with the yakuza and framed Mello, but I have no way of proving it."

"We have already had this conversation before when I showed you the video footage." He rubbed circles into her leg, moving his hand higher. "I have nothing to gain from helping you."

"What about my gratitude?" She asked, knowing what his answer would be before the question left her mouth.

"That isn't enough." Raito reached for the chain that was visible around her neck and pulled until the ring appeared. "I want more."

"No… I won't leave him." Hikari faced away from him and started eating her carrot cake. No, he couldn't have gotten her the double chocolate mud cake with extra icing on it.

"I have some information for you that might be interesting." He said, moving closer to her so that she could feel his warm breath on her neck. "It concerns Mello and Near."

This had her attention and she turned her head towards him, accidently brushing his lips with hers. At first it had been an accident but then Raito placed a hand behind her head to deepen the kiss and it became very intentional. Hikari had to pull away because she was actually interested in what he had to say. "What is the information?"

"Firstly I found out Watari's real name, it is Quillish Wammy. Well, that is how they say it in English"

"I already knew that… I have the eyes remember?" Hikari also rolled her eyes at him.

Raito narrowed his eyes. "Oh, so you also know about the orphanage, Wammy's House?"

_Us Wammy kids_. She remembered that Mello had said those words, was _this_ what he was meaning? That he grew up with Near and Matt in an orphanage?

"It is located in Winchester, England. We sent Aizawa and Matsuda there to investigate. A man called Roger Ruvie wouldn't give them much information, but they found out that L was the first successful detective to come from there. Mello and Near were his successors, but he had died before naming one of them his true successor."

"Thank you for that." Hikari stood up and pecked his cheek with a chaste kiss. She grabbed the cookie in the paper bag and placed it in her own one. "I might see you after the hearing next week." It was a sudden exit when she left the bakery. Not wanting to give in to the temptation of being close to him, she had to leave.

_They were all from England; Watari, L, Mello, Near and Matt_. Hikari mused to herself. _But they also all spoke excellent Japanese, almost as well as the natural speakers._ It was strange to her and didn't seem right.

On the way back to the office, Hikari was sure that everyone driving in the other cars were staring at her and even the people on the sidewalks would turn their heads in her direction. She was going to check if she had anything on her face or her hair was messed up in the rear view mirror when something did catch her attention and it was the answer to what she was wondering. Ankh was sitting in the back seat and had taken out the cookie from her bag. He was nibbling on it the best he could to savour the taste and crumbs were falling everywhere. The problem was that the cookie was visible through the windows and she was sure everyone else couldn't see the shinigami and only a cookie flying in mid-air.

"Ankh! Eat that quickly! Everyone can see it!" Hikari shouted at him, probably seeming crazy and looked as if she was talking to herself in the car. Maybe they would think she was singing to a song on the radio?

"But I-"

"No buts. Either eat it now or I will throw it out the car."

"Fine." The shinigami grumbled, chucking the last of the cookie in his mouth to chew.

* * *

28th May 2012

"I thought you would've sorted all of this out when you had lunch with her the other day." Teru said to the blond when he saw the guy walk out of the elevator onto their floor. "Was it not enough?"

Mello smirked when Hikari appeared at her office door with a worried expression on her face. He wanted to wink at her but the man she was apparently with had his eyes on him, he took a bite out of his chocolate bar instead. "What can I say? She's a lovely woman and I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more of her." He spoke suggestively and knew it would irritate the man.

The criminal prosecutor was left staring daggers into the back of his girlish styled hair and obviously fuming at the remark. Needing to keep a profession face on, Teru went into his office, not even trying to stop it from slamming shut.

"Don't get full of yourself." Mello said after locking the door when he entered. "You're not my type." He brought a chair closer to the desk so he could prop his boot covered feet on it. "So what were you doing for lunch when you rung me up?"

"I needed to talk to someone."

"A good girl like you, cheating on her man? I wouldn't have thought it was possible." The snapping of his chocolate bar could be heard, but Hikari had her hands to her eyes and was leaning on her desk. She just wanted the case to be over with, whether it was good news or bad.

"I'm not." She didn't sound very convincing, even to herself.

"There's no point lying to me, I'm not a genius for no reason." Ankh laughed at the guy and Hikari sent the shinigami a glare.

"Oh right, because you are just great at telling the truth." She snorted out in a very unladylike manner.

"Who is he?"

"Tell me more about Wammy's House."

"Don't change th– how did you find out about Wammy's House?" Mello stood up straight and rigid. For the first time, being in the same locked room with him scared her.

"I know a lot of things that you wouldn't think I did." _Your real name, your life span_. "Tell me how it all connects."

He produced a gun out of nowhere, or maybe she blinked when he reached for it, she didn't know. He was wearing such tight leather and she couldn't think of anywhere he could actually hide the weapon. All that mattered was that she was looking right into the barrel and it didn't give a nice feeling. She could see Ankh moving in the corner of her eye but couldn't communicate with him, without revealing information the blond didn't need to know. "How did you get that past security?" Her hands were held up with the palms facing him in surrender.

"Do you trust me?" Mello asked, pressing the gun to her forehead until she was sure there would be a circular mark to see later.

Crossing her eyes, she could see a silver cross dangling from the handle. Taking a big gulp, Hikari silently shook her head. Her mind was telling her to scream and she half expected him to fall to the ground, suffering from a heart attack. None of those things happened. Instead he pulled the gun away from her and she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"You should. You're risking your life to try and help me, even if Watari doesn't know the full extent of it." He turned around and unlocked the door. "I'll meet you at the hearing later this week. I'll also bring Matt. He is the closest thing I have to a witness, right?" Mello left and Hikari couldn't do anything apart from stand there, hands still in the air.


	14. Caught Unaware

**A/N: **It is here, sorry for the long wait. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 11

1st June 2012

Hikari sat next to Mello behind one of the two tables in front of an empty judge's bench. Beside them was the President of the Yotsuba Corporation and also their prosecutor. There were many seats behind them but only a few were filled. Various executives from Yotsuba were seated on the opposite side to her, Teru was somewhere behind her and much to his displeasure so was Raito, which meant Ryuk was somewhere close by as well. Ankh stood close to her and scanned the room, making sure that out of the few faces of the public, none of them were possible yakuza members.

Hikari had contacted Mello the day before telling him not to bring Matt along, there was no point involving him when nothing had been mentioned. It would only make everything more complicated. Everyone stood when the Judge walked into the courtroom from a side door and sat at the judge's bench. He was above everyone in the room and could see them all clearly, including those near the back. Court proceeded and previous details were brought forth about what happened. The tape of the security footage had already been viewed and Hikari agreed, when the Judge asked, that one of the guys in video was indeed Mello.

"It is obvious by what you saw that the defendant is the one who set off the bomb." The prosecutor started. "He placed the bomb and when a safe distance away, pressed whatever button to blow it up. In doing that, he killed over one hundred Yotsuba employees including the Vice President of Marketing, Arayoshi Hatori."

"The footage cut out before we could see if the device my client placed on the wall actually exploded and don't know for sure whether it was the cause of the explosion." Hikari stated. She smiled inwardly when seeing the Judge nod his head a few times.

"Pieces of the same device were found in the wreck." The prosecutor had pictures with him and was holding the pages up. "There was nothing else considered to be a bomb."

"In this day and age, bombs can be made out of anything. I'm sure many of the company's computers were found in a similar condition, also in the wreck. Perhaps one of them was the bomb?" She looked over at the prosecutor raising an eyebrow at him.

"Do you think one of the employees-"

"What I'm saying is that you have no-"

"Stop!" The Judge spoke loudly, but not enough for it to be considered shouting. "I will have no arguments or interrupting done in my courtroom." He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something no one could hear under his breath. "I am interested in hearing what Miss Shimizu is suggesting."

Hikari stayed standing and faced the Judge, taking a deep breath before she spoke. "I believe that Yotsuba is working with the yakuza and set up my client."

There was a collective gasp from everyone on the other side of the courtroom and even Mello beside her looked at her strangely. She had never brought up that specific detail with him. Only Teru and Raito were the ones to stay emotionless.

"Objection!" The Yotsuba prosecutor yelled, standing up again. "She has no evidence to make such a claim."

"Do you have any evidence for your accusation, Miss Shimizu?" The Judge looked down at her with a piercing gaze.

Hikari lowered her head. "No your Honour."

"With no evidence your allegation is redundant."

"I ask for everything to be put off for a month." When she saw the Judge about to speak, she quickly carried on. "It should be efficient time for me to gather evidence for my case and now that the Yotsuba Corporation knows of my accusation, they will have the time to gather anything to prove me wrong."

The Judge stayed silent for a while and Hikari was scared he wouldn't allow her the time she needed. "Alright, everything said in this room will stay in it. Miss Shimizu and Yotsuba Corporation is granted a month to collect anything concerning the yakuza and this case." He looked over at Hikari before speaking again. "If in a month you find nothing, Mello will be charged and imprisoned."

"Yes your Honour."

"Court dismissed." The Judge grabbed onto the gavel and slammed it down onto the table he was sitting at.

Everyone stood and slowly left the room. Hikari sunk into her chair. She had no idea how she was going to gather any hard evidence against Yotsuba and seemed to have only prolonged the time until Mello would be charged.

"Why didn't you tell me about the yakuza involvement?" Mello hissed at her, not having moved since the Judge left.

"It was none of your business and because I had no evidence to prove it." Hikari explained, she left with him following her and accidently locked eyes with a few of the Yotsuba executives who were just outside the room. She quickly looked away from them and carried on walking.

"But you really believe it, don't you?" Mello asked, staring after her with narrowed eyes.

"Yes. I can't say how I know, I just do." She turned around to face him one last time, knowing that Teru was probably in the car waiting for her. "Keep safe for a month, okay?"

"I would be more worried about yourself. If the yakuza hear about this, you may as well be dead."

"I'll be fine." Hikari gave him a reassuring smile. "I've got a guardian angel of some sort."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Hikari asked Teru as he drove the car.

It was later in the evening. Work was finished and she felt like relaxing. She knew what day it was though and even with the court hearing in the morning had been excited during the days leading up to this date. Dressed in something not too revealing but still sexy, she sat beside Teru, looking down at the hand he was holding. She just hoped he would be capable of driving with just one. What a way to end the day that would be, if they were to crash.

"It's a surprise, but we are almost there." He answered. Every few seconds he would look at her in the corner of his eye. To him she looked stunning that evening and he was happy to see her neck free of the necklace she always wore. If he had his hands free, he would check the pocket inside his suit jacket to see if the little box was still in there.

After a few minutes they pulled up to a restaurant. The same one he took her to when they were out celebrating her birthday, many years ago. Hikari waited in the car as Teru moved around to open her side of the door. Normally she would just get out herself but this evening she felt like being pampered. Once inside she found out that he had even booked the same table they sat at as well. Quickly surveying the room, she sighed in relief after seeing that Raito was nowhere to be seen, unlike last time.

"Happy three year anniversary, darling." Teru whispered into her ear when he pushed in the chair she sat down in.

Hikari clinked her already filled wine glass with his when he sat down. "Yes, may there be many more to come." She noticed the way his smile grew and tried not to picture Raito in that moment.

They ate dinner in silence and she would look up to see him staring at her. When their eating was finished, they walked to the park together. For the first time that evening, Hikari noticed that Ankh wasn't with them. She didn't question his whereabouts and knew the shinigami was probably giving them some time alone. She stopped walking when Teru was going over to the bench where L's death happened.

"I don't want to go over there." Hikari said, pulling on his hand and led him to one on the opposite side of the park.

Teru seemed to understand and was content with following her. When they were seated, she leaned over and kissed him on the corner of his mouth. One kiss turned into a few kisses, until they all flowed in a long string of entangled tongues and moist lips. He pulled her legs over his lap, to try and get closer to her. His hand was moving up from her knee and under the material of her dress. Hikari took his glasses off and then had her fingers in his hair, messing it up even further.

He was the first to break away from the kiss, both of them were breathing hard. "There is something I want to ask you." His hand went into the pocket inside his suit jacket.

Hikari's eyes widened but she kept quiet, not wanting to say something that could possibly ruin the moment.

"I know you never want to get married and I understand that, but..." Teru took out a small black velvet box and handed it to her. "…will you be mine?"

With shaking hands, Hikari opened the box and gasped when she saw what was inside. The ring was a single band of yellow gold, with a diamond staring up at her. It was simple and she loved it. Tears started gathering in her eyes and she looked up at him. Teru began frowning because he thought she was about to reject him since she was biting her lip, but Hikari nodded her head repeatedly, unable to form any words. He kissed her softly on the lips and took the ring from her hands, slowly putting it on her left ring finger.

"Yes." Hikari whispered when she finally got her voice back, though the verbal acceptance was a bit too late.

"You are the one I want." Teru murmured in her ear as he placed a stray strand of hair behind it. "The Goddess in my life."

"Every Goddess needs her own God." She hugged him to hide the tears that continued to stream down her cheeks. This time she wasn't crying out of happiness.

* * *

4th June 2012

Ankh decided for himself to help out Hikari, knowing that she wouldn't be able to snoop around the Yotsuba Corporation by herself, especially now that they knew who she was and the accusation she had. Just like the last time, the shinigami found the group of seven men in a room debating what had happened in the courtroom a few days beforehand. He stayed in the corner even though none of them were able to see him and stared at them all disgustedly. There were only a few he knew were against the concept of working with the yakuza but as a whole they were all against Hikari and he needed to stop them somehow without suspicion going her way.

"How did she know about the yakuza?" Shimura asked, clearly shaken at the thought of being caught. "Do you think they are against us and are working with her as well?"

"Keep it together, you heard what she said, she has no evidence." Kida chastised the man with shaggy brown hair.

Higuchi laughed at Shimura's other query. "The yakuza have killed everyone we asked them to, I doubt they would be working with her."

"We still have to keep our heads down." Namikawa said. "I suggest we stop having these meetings until the case is over."

"What if the blond guy _is_ innocent, like his lawyer seems to think?" Shimura asked.

Ooi looked over at Shimura. "Did you not watch the footage before it was taken to the NPA? The guy broke in somehow, even if he didn't blow up the building we can still charge him with trespassing."

A collective noise of agreement sounded at what the bald man said.

Ankh left as they all did, after finishing their conversation. With no more meetings, it meant there wouldn't be anything he could find out. The shinigami knew he couldn't just steal items. It would cause a lot of attention when objects started floating about in mid-air. There had to be something that Hikari could find out, but she would need to do that for herself. In the meantime his thoughts went to Rem and he wondered what she was doing haunting the albino boy.

* * *

25th June 2012

Her month was almost up and so far Hikari had found no evidence that connected the yakuza with Yotsuba. She was alone outside the National Police Agency. Ankh was with Teru, keeping him company, because he assumed she was going here for Raito. As she saw the man she was after, exit the building, Hikari followed him and picked up her pace until she was walking beside him. He didn't seem to recognise her to begin with, but after a few minutes and constant looking over to his side, recognition hit him.

"Miss Shimizu… isn't it?" He asked, stopping to face her and hoping he got her name right.

"Mr. Matsuda, you are a detective right?" Hikari asked with a lowered voice so those that walked passed them wouldn't hear what she was saying.

"Uh… yes. You could say that." Matsuda scratched the back of his head as she leaned in closer to him. A light blush covered his cheeks. "W-why do you ask?"

She smiled sweetly at him and fluttered her eyelashes a few time, noticing his blush deepen a bit. "I need help… can you help me?"

"S-sure, I'll do anything to help out."

"Great! Follow me." Hikari turned back towards the NPA building and over to the car she used to get there.

It was the middle of the day and she needed to the car back before Teru finished work. What she wanted to do shouldn't take long, or she hoped it wouldn't anyway. Hikari opened the passenger's door for Matsuda and got into the driver's side of the car. When the car came to life, she drove into the town and parked down the street from a really large building.

"That is Yotsuba Corporation. Aren't you on a case against them? Why are we here?" Matsuda asked, looking out the window at the building.

"We're breaking in and going to find the evidence I need for my case." Hikari explained, shifting through a box she had in the backseat.

"But won't the security cameras recognise…" He stopped speaking as he turned around to look at her. She was now wearing a blonde wig and overly large sunglasses.

"Do you still have that fake identification on you? You're probably going to need it if we get caught." She asked, ignoring his confused look of how she knew it. "Now you are just going to have to follow my lead, we don't have much time to do this." She got out of the car and he quickly followed her as she crossed the street.

"O-okay."

Inside the building was large, a lot like the one she worked in but there were a lot more employees in here than she would see at her work. Reception was right in front of them but she didn't want to go straight there and attract attention. There was only one possible way they could get pass them.

"I'm feeling quite faint." Hikari suddenly said aloud to Matsuda.

"Wha-" He was able to catch her just in time before she hit the ground and luckily for both of them the wig stayed on. Her eyes were closed and he wasn't sure what happened. "Help?" Matsuda said unsurely. He started calling out when Hikari wouldn't wake up from his shaking. "Help!"

One of the receptionists came over to them. "I saw what happened, is she okay?" Looking her over, the receptionist nodded. "If you can carry her I can show you to the bathroom." She noticed the ring on Hikari's hand when Matsuda picked her up bridal style. "Then when your fiancée is feeling better, you can just come back out."

"My fiancée?" Matsuda asked confused until he also saw the ring. "Oh… yeah…" He added sheepishly and with a laugh.

Once they were in the bathroom, which was just a bunch of toilets and sinks, the receptionist left. She had walked them down a hallway and away from the foyer. Matsuda was still unsure if Hikari was actually unwell or not until she got up. Taking her wig and sunglasses off, she placed them on the sink.

"Great work Mr. Matsuda! You really pulled that one off." She complimented him, receiving a blush in return. "We need to get to an elevator and go up a few floors."

"I saw one just down the hallway." He pointed and led the way.

Getting to the elevator was easy for them since there was no one walking about. Inside, Hikari pushed a random number and waited for them to ascend. It stopped a few floors below her intended one and an employee entered. Matsuda and Hikari became very stiff, hoping the employee wouldn't realise something was amiss. They were both wearing their work clothes, so it wasn't obvious they didn't belong.

"What part of Yotsuba are you from?" He asked, giving them a sideway glance.

"We're part of the Sales team." Hikari answered before Matsuda was able to open his mouth.

"Oh? Why is the Sales team wanted on the Technology Development floor?"

"A job that needs to be done, we haven't been given many details of it yet." Hikari hoped that she sounded convincing.

The elevator dinged when it reached the floor and they left the elevator, along with the employee who was talking to them. Someone roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side, making her cry out in surprise. It caused some people to stop their work and look over at what was happening.

"We found you." The man with long sideburns said. "Grab the tall one as well." He ordered some burly men who were behind him. "We have some questioning to do."

Hikari gave Matsuda a worried look before uttering. "Uh oh."


	15. Missing

**A/N: **Here it is, enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 12

25th June 2012

"_Is she with you?"_

Raito felt like laughing at the worried tone he could hear in Teru's voice. "No, but I wouldn't mind if she was. Has your girlfriend gotten bored of you already?" He jeered into the phone, not too worried about where Hikari could be.

"_This is serious, she has been gone since lunch and also, she is my _fiancée_ now."_

"Ankh is with her, she will be fine. Stop worrying, she can look after herself." He ignored and chose not to comment on the last bit Teru said.

"_Ankh is with me Yagami."_

"Then tell-"

"Raito!" He turned to see his father calling his name. "Have you seen Matsuda? He's been gone since lunch."

"Dammit Matsuda!" Aizawa shouted, slamming his fists on his desk. "I told him last time not to take an extended lunch break. It's not fair on the rest of us working our asses off!"

"Did you hear that Mikami?" Raito asked.

"_Yes, you don't think that Hikari is _with _Matsuda, do you?"_

He laughed. "Matsuda is an idiot. Hikari would have better taste if she was cheating on you." He could hear Teru scoffing on the other end.

"_I would prefer it to be Matsuda over you."_

"Tell Ankh to find Hikari and I'll go search for her and Matsuda." Raito said and swore he heard the shinigami call him a bastard.

"_Not without me."_

He rolled his eyes. Of course Teru had to make things difficult. "I would prefer not working with you on this, trust me, I will find her."

"_I don't trust you."_

Raito let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll meet you in her office." He hung up the phone, only to turn and become face to face with Near.

"Who is Ankh?"

"It is the nickname of the computer geek in Mikami Teru's work building." He stood up and went to grab his jacket but Near stopped him.

"If the _computer geek _can find Hikari, where are you going?" The albino was too cautious for his own good.

"Hikari is missing. I know her really well and will be the best at finding her. I can also go find Matsuda as well." Raito explained but was doubtful that Near was even listening to him.

"Finding Kira is more important than two missing people who are capable of looking after themselves."

"I-"

"Raito go find them." His father order and Near reluctantly let go of the jacket. "Whether it is catching Kira or finding two missing people. Everything we do in this job is important…"

Raito left and was unable to hear the rest of his father's speech to Near. Hikari was obviously in danger. He hoped she had a piece of the Death Note with her, to keep her safe. The prospect of working with Teru didn't sit well with him. The man was useless. He couldn't believe that she agreed to be engaged to the guy, she was _his_, not Teru's and definitely no one else's. Raito couldn't wait until he found out what happened to her because he would use the Death Note to kill them.

When he arrived at Teru's work, the man was already in Hikari's office and Raito saw something he knew he should've been aware of when arriving. His ex-girlfriend Yuri, stood up as soon as he entered, smiling at him and her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He could see Teru stopping what he was doing in the office to watch the exchange. Not knowing of the break up and he would also probably get moody when finding out.

"Raito! I knew you were a romantic guy, have you come to see me?" Yuri came up to him and was about to wrap her arms around his neck when he gently pushed at her shoulders, keeping the woman at arm's length.

"No. Hikari is missing. I've come to help Teru out." He leaned in and pretended to whisper in her ear, even though the volume of his voice stayed the same for Teru's benefit. "You can't be like this every time you see me. It's over and it always is going to be."

The tears in her eyes started to fall and instead of the happiness that brought them in the first place, she was sad and returned to her desk.

"You can go home for the rest of the afternoon." Teru said to Yuri, who nodded before setting everything up for the next day.

"That was kind of you Mikami." Raito commented after the elevator doors closed in front of Yuri.

"Not everyone wants to be a jerk." Teru went back in the office and continued looking through the drawers of her desk before adding. "It's probably why Hikari chose me over you."

"Oh I'm sure." He had never been in her office before and took the time to look around. "Are you not allowing her any privacy at all?" Raito asked after hearing the other man open up a different drawer.

"Hikari doesn't have anything to hide from me, we live together remember?"

"Yeah okay, she's also your fiancée, got it." He muttered darkly. Turning around, he saw Teru glaring at him. "So… how is her case going? Court is next week isn't it?"

"She hasn't talked about it much." Teru said. "There isn't anything about the case I can see here. She must be desperate for some evidence" He sat in her chair and tried ringing her cell phone again but it was sent straight to voice mail.

Raito grinned. He knew exactly where she must be. The grin soon turned into a frown because it still meant Hikari was in trouble if she wasn't back already. "Would she be desperate enough to go over to Yotsuba? Get some evidence herself first-hand?"

"Of course..." He didn't like agreeing with Raito, but he had to be right.

"I suppose you need a ride then, since Hikari took yours."

This was turning out worse for Teru. Being in the small space a car offered with Raito was not something he wanted to do. "Yes." He mumbled.

"Does this mean when I save Hikari, I get to kiss her like they do in the movies?" Raito joked, knowing that the other guy wouldn't see the humour in his question. He was being just a tiny bit serious because he really wouldn't mind a kiss from her.

"No!" Teru shouted and some other employees looked their way. He wanted to storm ahead of Raito but had no idea where he parked his car or even what sort of car he drove. "Do you think Matsuda is where Hikari is?"

"Possibly, I wouldn't count it out." He thought about it some more. "It is highly likely actually. Matsuda is quite… gullible and he would do _anything_ if a pretty woman asked him to do something."

"Great, because I just wanted to have more competition." Teru moaned getting into the car.

Raito laughed at him. "Don't worry about Matsuda." Teru looked over at him surprised and couldn't believe that he was being nice. His opinion instantly changed when Raito opened his mouth again. "It's me you have to worry about."

The punch was unexpected by both of them. Teru stared down at his fist which started to ache a bit. Raito was bound to get a black eye in a few minutes with how hard he punched him. Raito was also the first to recover and returned the favour, keeping the glasses intact. Making sure that there wasn't going to be a third round, Raito started the car quickly and then drove as fast as the traffic would allow him to Yotsuba Corporation.

* * *

Hikari looked up when she saw movement. Ankh came into the locked room through the wall and was taking in his surroundings. It didn't look good for her or Matsuda. They were tied to separate chairs. Inside the room was a bunch of yakuza men who recently started posing as Yotsuba employees and also Kyosuke Higuchi, the one who grabbed her when they made it to the floor, from the elevator. He smelled too much of a disgusting cologne which seemed to be lathered on excessively and every time he leaned in to her, she felt herself gagging.

Shaking her head when she saw Ankh take out his Death Note, caused everyone in the room to look at her weirdly. She didn't care, as long as the shinigami didn't waste his life. Also she believed someone would come to get her. What time was it? She needed to go somewhere to talk with Ankh and understand the situation. Normally she wouldn't mind seeming crazy, but Matsuda was with her and Near would be near him eventually.

"I need to go toilet, _really _badly!" Hikari said, hoping at least one of them was listening.

"You're not going anywhere." Higuchi told her. "You'll just try to escape."

"But…" She beckoned him closer with her head and wondered how she would be able to hold her breath and talk at the same time. When he was close enough she started whispering. "…it's _that_ time of the month and I thought I would be home by now and…" Hikari spoke the rest loud enough for everyone in the room to hear her, faking hysterics, her dignity be damned. "…don't you know how hard it is to get _stains_ out of this skirt? I will have to soak them for weeks!"

Everyone in the room was of the male variety and they all found different things inside the room of interest, not wanting to make eye contact with her. Some were looking at their shoes. Others checking their guns had bullets in them. Higuchi cleared his throat and tried to loosen his collar. She looked over at Matsuda who was blushing a deep red, since he was able to hear everything she said. Higuchi stepped away from her and he muttered something she couldn't hear to the closest yakuza member.

"You have five minutes-"

"Only five minutes? How about you try having a per-"

"Okay ten! Just don't say it or speak of it again!" Higuchi yelled and although she wanted to flinch, a small smile which she hoped showed appreciation appeared on her face.

She was untied at a hurried pace and had a gun in the back of her head the whole way to the bathroom. It was down a hallway she couldn't recognise but they all looked the same anyway, so any hope of knowing where she was in the building was useless. Hikari went to the furthest cubicle and locked it. Ankh followed her but she could only see half of him because he was halfway in the next cubicle, not being able to fully fit in her one.

"What is happening outside of here?" Hikari whispered, hoping the guy with the gun outside the bathroom couldn't hear her. She couldn't imagine that ending well for her.

"Before that_ kid_ told me to find you, he and Teru are trying to figure out where you are." Ankh said, not having to worry about being overheard. "They should be here in an hour… _if _they haven't killed each other yet."

"Oh God, what am I going to do?" She quietly bumped her head against the wall.

"I can kill him." The shinigami offered. "I don't think he is a threat to your life. I should still live."

Hikari shook her head again. "I don't want you to risk it."

"You have five more minutes to go!" The yakuza member shouted and it sounded like he wasn't near the door but would be in sight of it. He probably thought the menstrual cycle was a disease or something, but he also didn't know that she lied.

"You have no choice." Ankh already had his Death Note out and was writing in the name. "You could see his life span. He's only able to offer me a few more minutes of extra life which pointless."

40 seconds seemed to go by slowly, but Hikari hear the thump of his body falling to the ground. Leaving the toilets, she was able to drag his body into a cubicle and take his gun. There was no where she could hide it which wouldn't be obvious and tying it between her legs with toilet paper wouldn't be possible. Deciding to just hold it and see what happened, she and her shinigami walked back down the hallway. Getting closer to the room her and Matsuda were being held captive, she heard some aggravated shouting. Three shots from a gun sounded and Hikari's eyes went wide.

"Matsuda!" She rushed the last bit of the way to get to the door, scared of what the room will show her.


	16. Saviour

**A/N: **Sorry for such a late update. The semester is drawing to a close. Anyway, here it is, enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 13

25th June 2012

"Matsuda!"

Hikari burst through the door, gun ready in her hand, expecting to see a few bloodied bodies on the ground and one of them to be the detective who she convinced to help her out. Matsuda was still safely tied to a chair and there was only one dead guy on the ground. It was one of the yakuza members. Higuchi stood there with his own gun facing in the direction of the lifeless body, a faint trail of smoke rising from the barrel. He turned, looking her in the eyes and then his gazed went down to the gun in her hand.

"Where did you get that from?" Higuchi asked, pointing his recently used gun at her. "Where is the guy that was with you?"

She dropped the gun and had to resist the urge to laugh when a few of the men jumped. Fake tears started pricking her eyes. "I-I think K-Kira got to him. He j-just fell over and he's d-dead."

"You think I'm stupid enough to believe that?" He shouted, stepping up to her. "Who did you contact?"

"I didn't contact a-anyone." Hikari's eyes were on his gun. This time she was actually scared for her life.

Higuchi saw a glint around her neck and lifted the chain to reveal the ring Raito had given her. "What is this? The device you used to contact someone? How many people are on their way?"

"Uh…"With the situation she was in, she couldn't think of a proper answer for him. He was talking nonsense and Hikari figured he was becoming paranoid. "No one's coming. It's just a ring."

"I doubt it." He ripped the chain from her neck and it broke, falling to the ground while Higuchi still held onto the ring. "With this gone, they aren't going to know where to find you."

Higuchi went over to the window, past Matsuda who flinched and threw the ring outside. Hikari felt like rushing to the window to watch where it was falling but didn't want to look any more suspicious than she already did. She was glad to have the gun out of her face and stayed where she was. Ankh, who was still behind her, started laughing and she knew the shinigami wouldn't help her get the ring back. He never wanted her to keep it in the first place when he found out about the thing. Turning around Higuchi's eyes widen and he paled considerably. Hikari thought that he was able to somehow see Ankh but when she heard a voice from out in the hallway, she knew she was wrong.

"What is going on in here? Why have I been told that you have two of my employees?"

"Namikawa! What are you doing here?" Higuchi looked between Hikari, Matsuda and the man with long dark hair who walked in front of her.

"I've come for my employees." Namikawa walked fearlessly up to Matsuda and untied the rope around him.

"She is the lawyer that has the case against Yotsuba Corporation. We should do something about her!" Higuchi shouted at him as he left the room with Hikari and Matsuda.

Namikawa stood at the door before turning around to face Higuchi one last time. "I have no idea what you're talking about. How about getting back to work, you won't get that promotion you want by standing around and doing nothing."

* * *

"Look!" Teru pointed at the road to the side of Yotsuba Corporation. "There's my car!"

"At least we know she is still here, unless they have taken her to another location." Raito parked and got out of the car. Teru followed him. "Let's hope that isn't the case."

Together they ran up the steps outside Yotsuba and straight towards the reception desk. The black eye had formed on Raito's face which gained him a few extra suspicious stares. Obviously, employees and people alike thought of him as an unruly person, just with the look he had and no one wanted him to start any trouble. He or Teru couldn't guarantee anything especially when Hikari's life was possibly on the line. They also had to save Matsuda but he came second out of the two.

"Can I help you?" The female receptionist looked at Raito warily, her hand twitching to push the secret security button at the first sign of trouble.

"Yes." Teru started. "I think my fiancée came in here, I was wondering if you had seen her."

"A lot of people walk through those doors Mister, male and female. After a few hours I stop recognising faces."

"She has long black hair." Raito inputted. "It might have been in a bun. She could've possibly been wearing glasses as well…"

"She _was_ wearing a business dress suit." Teru scratched the back of his head and looked around the foyer to see a lot of people in suits. His eyebrows were drawn together in thought. "Oh, but she might've changed at home."

"There should've been a man with her. Tall, dark hair and can be an idiot at times."

The receptionists glazed over eyes finally came to life. "There was this couple that came in here." She gazed at Teru with sympathetic eyes. "They were engaged and she looked nothing like your description. The man that was with her is how you described and he didn't seem to know what to do when she fainted." Her eyes widened and looked down the hallway. "I just remembered! I took them to the bathroom and haven't seen them come out since."

She moved around the counter-like desk, towards the hallway. Raito and Teru followed her, hoping that Hikari or Matsuda were still in the bathroom. Entering the space, they saw the receptionist holding up a blonde wig.

"This is what her hair looked like. I can't believe it was a wig. It looked so real."

Raito took the wig from her and sniffed it, getting a weird stare from the receptionist and Teru. "It smells like her, even if it was on her for such a short time."

"How do you know-" Teru grabbed the wig from him and placed it to his nose. "You're right, it does smell like her. That means she is here."

"No, it just means she was in this bathroom and with Matsuda." Raito rolled his eyes before facing the receptionist and smiling at her. "Would you mind-"

"There they are!" Someone shouted behind them, causing everyone inside the bathroom to look at the door.

Two large men, security officers, were standing behind the other receptionist. Each man grabbed Teru and Raito, and pushed them until they found themselves being shoved out of the room. Going through the foyer, everyone seemed to find a few seconds to stop and watch what was happening before getting back to their schedule. They were outside the building in a matter of seconds.

"I'm a detective!" Raito shouted at the men. "You can't kick me out of here."

"And I'm your mother." One of the security officers replied sarcastically. "Now beat it! I don't want to see either of you inside again."

Teru sat down on a nearby bench. "What are we going to do now?"

* * *

"Thank you." Hikari said when accepting the hot drink from Reiji's personal assistant. She lightly blew on the steaming coffee before taking a sip. "Not only for this, but also for saving Matsuda and I back there. I don't know how we would've gotten out otherwise."

There was a loud clank as Matsuda took too large of a sip and burnt his tongue. "Ow!" He was waving his hand in front of his face as if it would cool down his mouth.

"You should think about your safety next time you're trying to illegally find evidence." He opened the drawer of his desk and held out a tiny external drive. "I was going to contact you later in the week but I see no point in postponing it now that you're here."

Hikari looked at the small device in her hand. "What is on it?"

"Higuchi was stupid enough to use his work cell phone when contacting what I assume is the yakuza boss. For someone who is Head of Technology, he isn't very good with it. There are multiple conversations on it which should be enough evidence to save that Mello guy from being wrongfully charged. To save face he will be charged for trespassing, but given the circumstances, I doubt it will stick." Reiji stood and walked over to the window in his office. "I think the both of you should stay low until the case. My place has more than enough rooms for you and I will be able to get you there without getting attention drawn to you."

"But I-"

"Do you want to get killed?" Reiji spoke harshly as he interrupted Hikari.

Hikari opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out. She didn't know a way to say there was no reason to be worried about her because she had a part of the Death Note, as well as Ankh with her. Her mouth closed and her gaze went to the ground. "No, I don't."

"What about me?" Matsuda asked. "There's no reason to be worried, I'm not related to the case at all."

"You were seen with me today." Hikari whispered while nudging him to be quiet. "You're now as much of a target as I am."

"Oh, right." He said, laughing awkwardly.

"Can I use a cell phone?" She asked, looking at Reiji. "I need to ring someone if I'm going to be hiding until the case."

"Of course." He went to his desk and gave her one of the two cell phones that were on it. "It will show up as a private number, whoever you call won't be able to call back. You also won't have to worry about your conversation being recorded, unless the other person is using an unsafe line."

Hikari thanked him and went to the furthest corner of the room as an attempt for some privacy. She buttoned in the number of Teru's cell phone and hoped he was somewhere near it. If he wasn't and didn't pick up she was going to have to ring Raito and let _someone_ know where she was going to be. She could imagine how big Raito's already inflated ego would get if he picked up the phone to hear her. The dial tone was ringing for an awfully long time and Hikari was starting to dread calling the next number until it finally picked up.

"_Hello?"_

Had she called the wrong number? "Raito? What are you doing on Teru's cell phone?" Hikari's second thought was that something bad happened to him because of her. "Where is he?"

* * *

"Is that yours?" Raito asked when he heard the ringing of a cell phone.

They were still sitting outside the Yotsuba Corporation on a bench, watching business people and other citizens walking pass. Raito checked his phone but there was no incoming call or new messages on it. Teru looked at his cell phone and nodded.

"It is some private number. Do you think it is anyone important?" His thumb was hovering over both the 'call' and 'end' buttons. He didn't know whether to answer it or ignore it.

"Give it here." Raito reached over and grabbed the phone from Teru, answering the call before he could protest. "Hello?"

"_Raito? What are you doing on Teru's cell phone? Where is he?"_

"Hikari? Are you okay?" Raito ignored her other questions. Even if he hadn't spoken her name, Teru would've realised who it was by the concern he could hear in the man's voice.

"Give me back the phone." Teru said, holding out his hand.

"_Give him the phone Raito."_

He rolled his eyes and instead of giving the cell phone to Teru, he pressed the speaker button. "Just say whether you are okay or not."

"_I'm fine. I called to tell Teru that I will be missing until the case."_

"Where are you now?" Teru asked.

"_I'm in the building. I have evidence, I still need to listen to it, but it should win me the case. I'm with Mr. Namikawa and Matsuda. I can trust _him_ right?"_

"Yes." Raito spoke in the affirmative even though he was shaking his head. "You can trust Matsuda."

"Make sure he doesn't pretend to be your fiancé." Teru added and only heard her laugh.

"_He was only being a good actor."_

There was a pause and neither of them knew what to say to her.

"_Look, I have to go. I… uh… I love you."_

"I-"

"I-"

They both spoke but were interrupted by the dead tone as Hikari hung up straight away. Glaring at each other and then looking back at the cell phone, Raito and Teru were thinking the exactly same thing. Who had she been talking to when saying those last three words?


	17. Case Closed

**A/N: **Late again, I know... Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 14

29th June 2012

"I'm not going to him."

Hikari sighed and rested her head against the desk that was in Reiji's study. While in here, she didn't have to worry about being overheard by Matsuda and the owner of the house should still be at work. She was trying to convince Ankh to go visit both Raito and Teru. Matsuda and Hikari hadn't contacted anyone since their safety confinement. Reiji wasn't allowing them to use his phones. He had even disconnected the line to stop them from doing so when he was at work.

"Please Ankh, even if it is only for a few hours." Hikari looked over at the shinigami who was standing at the window. "I'll buy you a packet of cookies every week."

This got Ankh's attention and he turned to face her. "Make it three packets."

"Two packets will be my highest offer." She smiled when the shinigami extended his wings from his back and flew through the wall outside. Going over to the window she watched his silhouette getting smaller.

"Who were you talking to?"

Hikari screamed with fright and quickly turned around to see who was behind her. Reiji stood there in a half opened business shirt and slacks, his tie and jacket were resting on the chair behind his desk. She hadn't even heard him enter the room and saw that the door was closed. How long had he been in there and how much of what she said did he hear? She faced the window, unable to see Ankh anymore, to hide the reddening of her cheeks which started to appear.

"Don't you still have work?" She asked in an attempt to direct the conversation elsewhere.

"It is the end of the week and I decided to come home early." Reiji stayed where he was and stared at the back of her head. "Matsuda has started cooking dinner, so I know it wasn't him you were talking to. I'm sure he doesn't have the nickname Ankh either. Do you have a cell phone on you that I don't know about?"

"Of course not. I know you would get mad if I did." Hikari could feel him moving closer to her from behind and tried not to shiver in response. She knew he was going to use his height to try and intimidate an answer out of her but she wasn't going to fall for it. "You were imagining things. I wasn't speaking at all."

"Why would I imagine you talking?" He felt her flinch when he touched her shoulder. "What are you hiding?"

"I… I…" She twisted around and was face-to-chin with him. Bowing her head, she could feel both of her cheeks heating up, as if what she was about to admit was the real thing. "I don't know how to say this, but… I had this uh… imaginary friend when I was younger…" Hikari was sure that if the shinigami was with her right then, he would be laughing at the scene. "…when I'm alone, I sometimes talk to him. His name is-"

"Ankh." Reiji felt a little bit ashamed for making her admit something that was definitely embarrassing, but it also didn't explain everything he heard. He went over to his desk, to give Hikari some space and saw the external drive plugged into the computer. "Have you listened to all the phone conversations?"

"Yes." She lifted her head, glad for the swift change of conversation. "It should be enough to win the case. Thank you Mr. Namikawa."

"Reiji." He said quietly and when seeing her confused expression, he explained himself. "You've been staying here for a few days now, you are allowed call me Reiji."

"Thank you, Reiji." Hikari walked to the door, uncomfortable with the atmosphere that had just been created. "Have you ever thought of keeping Matsuda as a housewife? He seems to be too good at doing the cleaning and cooking. I bet he can take care of a baby really well also." She laughed at the horrified blank stare he sent her way and left the study with a smile on her face.

* * *

2nd July 2012

"Is this really necessary?" Hikari asked as she was squeezed into the back of a limousine between two extremely buff looking bodyguards. "I'm sure it would be fine if we arrived in a normal car."

Reiji and Matsuda sat opposite her. Reiji had a glass filled with a dark amber liquid in it and Matsuda was too scared to make eye contact with anyone, so he was staring out the window. The day had finally come where she was going to court with her evidence to try and get Mello out of the false blame. Ankh was already at the place with Teru and Raito. Hikari couldn't wait until she was able to see all of them again. Feeling as if she had been on house arrest was not fun, but it seemed like she wasn't free just yet.

"Yes. I was told to take every precaution to keep you safe and make sure you entered the courtroom alive." Reiji stared at her for a bit. He was able to tell she was uncomfortable with the situation but there was nothing he was able to do about it, especially when he had been paid a lot of money to do the job properly as well.

"Teru or Raito?"

"Yagami Raito called one of my private numbers. I don't know how he got it but this is what's happening whether you like it or not." He had enough of talking and closed his eyes instead.

_He probably hacked into the Yotsuba Corporation system._ Hikari wasn't about to tell Reiji that though, certainly not when Matsuda would be listening. "How much longer before we get there?"

Reiji stayed silent and it was Matsuda who replied. "The traffic isn't too bad, should take another twenty minutes at the most."

Hikari was given a pleasant surprise when they arrived in half the time that Matsuda had predicted. The limousine went into the underground parking and they were going to enter the building from there. To any onlooker she would've thought it obvious that someone important was going to be in such a vehicle, which should've made them an easier target. Each bodyguard stood on either side of her as they moved, not caring for personal space. She was glad they didn't smell funny because of it.

She held onto the small external drive that she wore around her neck. The only way someone was going to take it from her would be if they got close enough. With the bodyguards, Hikari knew it would be a difficult task. Mello was sitting at the same table as the court hearing. His mouth was turned downwards into a frown. She hoped by the end of this session, he would at least indulge in one smile. Ankh and Ryuk were standing at the back of the room. In front of the shinigami were Teru and Raito. She quickly smiled at all of them before taking her place beside the blond.

They didn't have to wait long when someone announced the arrival of the Judge. Everyone stood up and didn't sit down again until he ordered so. "Miss Shimizu, do you have the evidence against Yotsuba Corporation concerning them working with the yakuza?"

"Yes." Hikari stood up and removed the external drive from around her neck. She didn't fail to notice the look of surprise on the Judge's face, he obviously didn't think she would be able to come up with any, not that it was her doing in the first place. "In this are several conversations between Higuchi Kyosuke and what I presume is a yakuza boss."

The Judge motioned for one of the security officers to grab the device from her. When he had it in his hand, he got up from the bench and addressed everyone. "There will be a break until I have reviewed this evidence. You will be called back in when I am finished."

She wanted to leave and get some fresh air, already feeling stuffy while being in the courtroom for many minutes. The bodyguards wouldn't allow her to and she decided to observe the far side of the room with all the Yotsuba executives. Hikari was surprised to see Higuchi among them, wasn't he scared of getting caught? Their eyes met briefly and his flickered with anger, she looked away almost instantly. Teru gave her an encouraging smile when she gazed his way, her fingers went to the ring on her left hand. She was glad that Higuchi hadn't noticed it, or else she was sure he would've thrown it out of the window as well. That thought reminded her of what happened to Raito's ring and she looked at the man whose eyes were on her. It felt as if everyone was looking at her and she didn't want to check if it was true.

"Where were you last week?" Mello whispered in her ear. "I went to the firm you work at, but everyone said you were sick and wouldn't be in."

"I was hiding." She whispered back. "A mishap happened at Yotsuba and apparently it was the safest option for me."

"Well do you-"

He was interrupted by the door opening and the Judge coming back into the room. She couldn't even hear the sound of anyone breathing. It was so quiet and the anticipation of what the Judge was about to say was unnerving for Hikari. Wanting all of this to end, she hoped the Judge would settle the case in their favour. She had spent all of the previous day listening to the recordings again, making sure it wasn't something made up. Finding no faults in it, she was sure they were going to win this case.

"The voices on the evidence that has been supplied by Miss Shimizu have been correctly identified as Higuchi Kyosuke and an unknown yakuza member who has communicated with other organisations before." The Judge grabbed the gavel, holding it in his hand and readying it to slam down on the table. "Was anyone at Yotsuba aware of Mr Higuchi's communication with the yakuza before Miss Shimizu brought it up at the hearing?"

The prosecutor had his head bent towards the President of the Corporation before standing. "No, your Honour."

"They're lying!" Higuchi shouted out from the audience. "There was a whole meeting with all the executives. It wasn't just me!"

"Don't interrupt the courtroom." The Judge said loudly at the man. "Higuchi Kyosuke will be placed into a holding cell until I decide further on his punishment and the Yotsuba Corporation will be charge fourteen million Yen, being at fault for the employee. Court dismissed." The gavel went down and the Judge left the room again.

There were two security officers which entered from the back door and went over to Higuchi to escort him out of the room. "You can't do this to me, I-" People screamed as the man stopped talking and started clawing at his chest. He fell to the ground soon after, suffering from what seemed to be a heart attack.

"Get down!" Mello shouted and pushed Hikari to the ground covering her body with his own. Some others followed his lead and went under the seats they were sitting on. "It has got to be Kira, but why would he be watching this case? Where is he?"

_If only you knew_, Hikari thought. She was still on the ground and when everything quietened down, she got Mello off of her to stand.

Raito and Ryuk were nowhere to be seen in the room, so she left as quickly as she could. People would stop her to congratulate the win she attained but she didn't care about that anymore. Hikari wanted to find him. Ankh was still with Teru. Somehow he knew what she wanted to do and would have to wait in the car until she was finished. She couldn't find him anywhere in near the courtroom and was going to go look outside. She felt her arm being pulling and something covering her mouth before she could call out to someone.

"It's just me." Raito whispered, releasing his hand from her mouth.

"What are you doing in here?" Hikari asked. She could see Ryuk in the far corner watching the people outside of the window.

"I was waiting for you to walk pass." He pointing to her collar bone which was expose with the top she was wearing. "Where is it?"

Her hand reached up to hold the one touching her. "It was taken off me and thrown out the window when I was in Yotsuba." She looked at their feet, not wanting him to see the partially saddened expression on her features. "How did you know it was Higuchi?"

"I was able to get into the company's system and saw a lot of things." Raito traced his finger downwards and she didn't bother to stop him. "Now that you're engaged, I'm surprised you were still wearing it. I'll buy you another one."

"Don't." Hikari whispered, sounding harsher than necessary. "I'm not going to leave him."

"That won't stop me from trying." His other went up to cup the side of her face and he leaned in closer to her.

She pushed him away as hard as she could manage before his lips touched hers and he stumbled backwards. "Don't." The feeling she felt at that moment was similar to when she had initially refused to kill L and she hoped this time, she wouldn't give in. "I need to go." Hikari rushed out and left Raito in the room with his shinigami.

Ryuk started laughing. "You're losing your touch with that girl Raito." He smiled even though he saw Raito's hands in fists. "Looks like I might be losing the bet after all." The lanky shinigami muttered to himself.

* * *

3rd July 2012

"Do you think this has anything to do with yesterday?" Hikari asked worriedly and tightened her grip on Teru's hand, making him wince slightly. "Why would the National Police Agency call both of us in?"

"I don't know." He could feel the circulation stopping in his hand and tried to make her let him go. The attempt was unsuccessful. "I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

She nodded and did loosen her hold on him. "I guess we're just going to wait and find out." It probably would've been better to hold Ankh's bony hand because shinigami can't feel pain as intensely as humans. But if anyone were to see, it would look like she was holding air and Hikari didn't want that to happen.

The elevator they were in seemed to ascend at a slow pace and she wished it would move faster as she watched the numbers above them change. With a 'ding' the doors opened and they entered the room. All the officers from the task force were standing in a circle and at the front of the room was the last person Hikari expected to see. Near was standing there by himself, holding up what look like a pure white notebook.

"I'm glad you could finally join us." Near spoke and everyone turned to look at them. Hadn't they heard when the elevator made a noise?

"Was it you that wanted us here?" Hikari asked, stepping forward and standing next to Raito. It was the only position available and she definitely didn't want Teru or him next to each other.

"Yes." The albino handed the book he was holding over to Soichiro. "I want you all to hand this around."

The book was thin and resembled a Death Note, but was a completely contrasted version. When she handed it over to Teru, her eyes shot up looking for a shinigami, but there was nothing in the room with them. Everyone was confused for why they passed around the book and were looking at the boy strangely. He had a neutral expression on his face and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking about. Hikari's eyebrows furrowed as she wondered what he was up to.

"Rem, you can reveal yourself now." Near gave the order and a half skeletal, half mummified shinigami appeared. The only people to not react were Raito, Hikari and Teru. Near just smirked because his eyes were only on two out of the three of them. "What you had touched before was something called a Death Note. It is the weapon Kira is using to kill his victims." He raised his hand and pointed in front of him. "Yagami Raito and Shimizu Hikari both have Death Notes. Isn't that right Rem?"

"Yes." The shinigami answered in a monotone voice. This seemed to frighten the task force members even more. They didn't know what to do. Soichiro seemed like the only one of them to have gathered his wits and couldn't believe what he was hearing from the boy or the monster about his own son.

"One of you is Kira."


	18. A New Kira?

**A/N: **I would like to thank **_Awen_ _Sofer_** for beta'ing this chapter. Sorry for such a long wait. Hope you all enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 15

3rd July 2012

Ryuk laughed. "He's got you now Raito."

The only two humans who were able to hear the shinigami ignored him. There was no way for the albino to know for certain about them having a Death Note. Had he given away half of his remaining lifespan to gain the shinigami eyes? That couldn't be the case because Hikari remembered how he was asking his shinigami to confirm it. This made everything more complicated since he now knew how Kira was killing. To what extent did he understand how the Death Note worked? She wanted to ask Ankh many questions but couldn't if she wanted to pretend she was clueless.

Hikari started laughing and everyone apart from Near stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "How can you make such an accusation with no proof?" She pointed at the white Death Note in his hands. "You're the only one with an actual Death Note on you. There's a chance you are fooling us and are the real Kira."

"Is it true that the both of you were suspected by L as being Kira?" Near asked.

"That is true, but they were just kids back then and L never did find any hard evidence before he..." Matsuda answered but the sentence trailed off into nothing. He kept looking between the child genius and the two accused.

"I want to put both of you under 24 hour surveillance." He looked at everyone for any objections but no one voiced any. "If you aren't Kira then you have nothing to worry about."

"This is ridiculous." Raito muttered under his breath as both he and Hikari were led by Soichiro and Matsuda into two adjoining rooms.

A blush stayed on Matsuda's face as he quickly frisked her, apparently there weren't any female officers in on the whole Kira business. Hikari was glad he didn't do a thorough job because she just remembered having a scrap of a Death Note page in her bra. The officer turned around as she was told to change in a set of white pyjamas very similar to the ones that Near had on. They were a few sizes too large on her, but would be much more comfortable in confinement than the skirt and blouse she was currently wearing.

"I'm done." Hikari said to let Matsuda know she was decent enough for him to turn around without feeling anymore embarrassed.

They left the room and she couldn't help but giggle at the sight of Raito. He was in a similar set of pyjamas to her, except they seemed to fit him better. It was funny to see the man who considered himself a God looking like an overgrown child. All that was missing was the thumb sucking and teddy bear holding. They went back into the first room and Hikari tried to give Teru a reassuring smile. She had no idea what was going to take place in the near future and the reign of Kira could quite possibly end because of everything that was happening now.

"Before you're imprisoned, I want to know where your Death Notes are." Near spoke while still standing close to Rem. "I think it will be fair if we could see both of your shinigami."

"I don't have anything resembling the book you just showed us." Hikari told him.

"That's right." Teru inputted, trying his best to help out in any way possible. "When we moved in together there was nothing like the Death Note, unless old textbooks count?"

"Not anymore." She continued. "When I was younger-"

"How young?" The albino boy's question interrupted her.

"It was my fifth birthday. It is a day I have a hard time forgetting, even though it was a while ago." Hikari looked up beside her at Ankh. The others only saw her looking at one of the fluorescent light bulbs above. "There was a black book the size of your Death Note, but this one had different symbols on-"

"Hikari, you shouldn't say anything to falsely incriminate yourself." Raito said, trying to stop her. "Take it from a police officer."

She rested a hand on his arm, smiling up at him. "It's okay, there's no point in lying now."

"Hikari-" Teru started his own protest but she quickly interrupted him, she didn't think there was a need to get him involved.

"I saw Ankh straight after I touched it and dropped the book. My babysitter called me inside and since I had a new friend, I forgot all about it. Everything after that is a bit blurry. The babysitter soon left and the next thing I find myself getting questioned because she had killed herself. I went outside to find the book but it was gone."

"That's not possible." Rem stated, surprising everyone after the long silence.

"Why's that Rem?" Near asked.

"If she had lost the Death Note, she wouldn't still be the owner of it and Ankh wouldn't still be following her."

"Now Rem stop being such a… what do the humans call it… stop being such a wet blanket." Ryuk laughed anyway. "This sure will make things interesting."

"So Hikari is lying to us." Playing with a piece of his white hair, he turned to his right. "Mr. Aizawa, I want you to find a photograph of Hikari from every year since she was born and also all information on her and Raito from the NPA database. I doubt there would be any information left from when L took the Kira case but I'm sure Mr. Yagami can fill me in on those details." Near ordered.

"This is worse than L." Aizawa muttered to himself as he walked past the duo in pyjamas. "Now I'm taking orders from a kid less than half my age."

"Matsuda, put the handcuffs on them."

The other officer was just as reluctant to listen to Near but didn't voice any complaints as he fitted the obviously new and shiny handcuffs on both Hikari and Raito. "Sorry about this." He whispered to her. "I really don't want to do this."

"I can tell that getting a good night's sleep isn't going to be happening anytime soon." Raito stretched his arms above his head after his wrists had been secured together.

"It can't be that bad." Hikari said while testing the strength of the handcuffs and finding out there would be no way of getting free without the key. "We just get put into a room with cameras, right?"

The albino nodded his head. "Yes, something like that. You're going to need to be blindfolded before leaving this room."

"Let me say goodbye first." Teru walked up to Hikari without waiting for a response. He held her face in his hands and she grabbed onto his shirt. Their eyes automatically closed as their lips met.

A few of the officers coughed uncomfortably as the kiss continued until Raito let out a frustrated and annoyed grunt. "Should you really let this go on?" He asked Near .

"It will be a long time before they see each other again." The kid was staring at the display with wide, curious eyes and didn't look away. It reminded Raito of a certain detective from a few years ago.

"I will prove that you're innocent." Teru promised as they finally broke apart for some much needed air.

Hikari lifted herself up on her tiptoes and quickly gave him a short peck. "I trust you." She stepped back and kept on staring at him until all she saw was darkness. "What's happening?"

"You are being blindfolded." The voice sounded like Near's. "I don't want you to find out where we are taking you."

The next few hours were spent in what she guessed was the backseat of a car, along with Raito. Hikari didn't know if it truly was taking them that long to get to the specific destination or if they were going around in circles to try and disorientate the two. After the first half of an hour, she had stopped taking internal notes of each corner they took. When leaving the car it was considerably colder than earlier on. The floor they were being led on echoed with each step. She heard the creaking of something opening and then she was sitting on a soft seat.

"Take off their blindfolds."

The lights were dimmed and weren't blinding considering she had been practically blind for such a long time. Looking around the surroundings Hikari found herself inside a cell. Not quite the room she had been hoping for. The police officers left quickly, leaving her and Raito to be locked behind metal bars. There were two bed structures bolted to opposites walls, she was sitting on one of them. Near, who was the one to order there sight back, was staring at them through the wall of bars. The way he stared at her was unsettling and she continued looking around, spotting a few cameras attached to the ceiling. None of the shinigamis were in the room.

Near began speaking again, bringing her eyes to his. "This is where you will be staying until we find evidence that proves either one of you or both are Kira." He seemed to be uncomfortable with the atmosphere and it could've had something to do with having no bodyguard around him. "Three meals will be given each day and I will be watching your every move."

"You're wasting your time." Raito almost shouted at the albino. "The killings are going to continue because neither of us is Kira. You are going to have to set us free sooner or later."

"You're so certain that more people are going to die." Near stepped away from the bars and started walking towards the only exit. "We will find exactly what you're hiding."

The only sound they heard after the kid genius left was the echo of the door slamming by itself and their combined breathing. Both of them didn't know what to say and it didn't help that they knew they were being watched. Hikari winced as she moved her wrists, almost forgetting about the handcuffs that were left on.

"Are you okay?" Raito asked her, his voice filled with genuine concern. He moved to sit beside her and she didn't have any energy to move away when he lifted his hands to touch her cheek. "We're innocent. They can't keep us in here long."

"I know." She whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder and letting go of her exhaustion to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

4th July 2012

"So you have everything I asked for?" Near was sitting in a swivelling chair with one leg bent up so he could rest his chin on it and the other hanging limply over the side.

"Yes." Aizawa handing him a manila folder filled with everything. "The photographs were harder to come by. After talking to her parents I found out Miss Shimizu never like her photo being taken and any photographs they did have were destroyed soon after by her. There were three already in the database along with three cases you'll want to read up on and I had to scour school yearbooks for the rest."

"I see." The boy opened the folder and let everything tip out from it. Lining up each photo in order of the age written on the back of them, he called over Rem to look at them all.

"I don't understand." The shinigami muttered to herself so that it was barely audible. "Ankh tried finding a loophole on a different matter, but did he succeed this time?"

"What is it Rem?"

All the taskforce police officers made their way to the table and looked over the contents confused. What was the monster able to see that they couldn't? All they saw was a girl growing up throughout the years.

"There are rules surrounding the Death Notes." Rem began before getting interrupted.

"Ah man. There are rules now? Why does everything have to get so complicated?" Matsuda complained.

"Hikari shouldn't have been able to own the Death Note under the age of six years old." The shinigami's eyes skimmed over the rest of the photos until she saw one and gasped. Without waiting to be questioned, she started talking again. "In this photograph her lifespan has dropped drastically, which means two things."

Near took the photograph from her, it was the only one where Hikari wasn't wearing glasses. Looking at the back of it, neatly written was the number _18_. "What are they?"

Rem held up one skeletal finger first. "She still owned the Death Note during that time." A second finger rose. "She has the eyes."

"The eyes? What does that mean?" It was Aizawa who spoke up, not enjoying the mystery of everything.

"She can see the names and lifespans of everyone she looks at. Her eyesight has also increased to more than the average human, which is why she doesn't wear spectacles anymore. Though I don't know why she was wearing them in these years, which was during the time I had also seen her…" Rem's muttering became inaudible as she became deep in thought.

"If she ever is in the possession of a Death Note from now and on, all of our lives are in danger." Near was twirling a strand of his hair around a finger, also suddenly becoming deep in thought like his shinigami.

* * *

6th July 2012

"Were there any cameras?" Teru asked Ankh who had flown down from the side of Raito's apartment.

"There were none." Ankh held out his hand to be given the brown paper bag that the man was holding. Inside was a large cookie and it was devoured within a second. "Ryuk is still in there, he will tell you where the boy hid both Death Notes, but he won't be doing it for free. You are going to need to buy him a bunch of apples afterwards."

"Of course, let's just get inside." Teru had an idea of where the books would be because to the slight clue Raito gave him. _I can tell that getting a good night's sleep isn't going to be happening anytime soon._ There was no way the guy would've said something as useless as that otherwise.

Breaking into the apartment hadn't been a problem. While Ankh was looking for any cameras that Near may have set up while him and the taskforce tried to find the notebooks, the shinigami found a spare key and gave it to Teru. He was glad that all of the taskforce members didn't use the apartment for their headquarters anymore and instead they were at wherever place the albino was staying. Looking around for Ryuk, he couldn't find the shinigami anywhere until he heard a laugh above him and saw the gangly being hanging from the ceiling.

"They're under the bed." Ryuk said, pointing towards the bedroom. "Be careful or else this whole place will go BOOM!" More laughter was followed.

"Are you even going to show me how to get to them?" He was on his back, getting under the bed and couldn't see a thing in the darkness.

"Nope, it will be interesting if you can find out."

Using the light of his cell phone, Teru looked around the underside of the bed until he found a tiny pinprick hole near the edge. It reminded him of when Hikari had told him about how Raito hid the Death Note when they were in high school. He needed a pen and also he needed to remove the mattress. How could all of the taskforce members miss such an obvious thing? Was the bed not the first thing they checked?

"Pen… where is a pen?" He muttered to himself. The desk had a few but the ink cartridges were too thick for what he was hoping for. "Do I have one?"

Both of the shinigami in the other room stared at him strangely as he started talking to himself, only catching snippets of his self-conversation. Ryuk started complaining to Ankh about how he wasn't going to be able to have any apples since Raito was locked up. All the crocodile shinigami cared about was how he was going to get Rem alone to talk to her about whatever she was planning because he didn't like how Hikari was imprisoned and wanted to try get her out of there, even if he needed to kill everyone for it to happen.

"It fits!" Teru yelled out in triumph and proceeded to push the king-sized mattress off of the bedframe, not caring about the mess he made. He then carefully pushed the ink cartridge up, surprised at how a thin layer of plywood was able to get lifted. Along with some contraption he wasn't familiar with, were two Death Notes. "Finally…"

He looked down in admiration as he held both notebooks in his hands. More than anything Teru wanted to give them to Near and tell the boy exactly where he found them. That way Raito would get into trouble and Hikari could be set free, but it was if one of the books was calling out to him, enticing him to just use it once. Taking a deep breath he tried to find his resolve. It wasn't there anymore and he didn't care. Teru now had another way to set Hikari free and it also gave him some power as well. Without speaking a word he left the apartment as it was and knew that the shinigamis would follow him. A hand held his briefcase protectively, the only thing which hid the Death Notes from sight.

* * *

**A/N: **I've made an assumption that shinigami, while looking at photographs, see the lifespan of the person when the photo was taken (if they're still alive), instead of their current lifespan. There are no actual "facts" as to whether this is true or not, but just thought to add this quick note in case of any confusion.


	19. Imprisonment

**A/N: **An update! Hope the wait has been worth it. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 16

7th July 2012 (Day 4)

"Hikari… wake up."

Although the words were said right next to her, it was as if someone was saying them from far away. Hikari didn't want to wake up and open her eyes. The time she had spent inside the cell was harder than she thought it would've been, even with Raito being in here as well. She swatted away a hand which kept on shaking her. There seemed to be urgency in the movement but it didn't matter to her. Unless it was time to eat, which only happened at three set times during the day, she was going to stay sleeping.

"Wake her up already!" The next voice was muffled, as if something was covering it. "We don't have time for this."

"I'm trying." She recognised the same voice from earlier. It could only be Raito if it was the person who was shaking her as well. "Hikari you have to get up. Sorry for what I'm about to do."

_Huh?_ His words didn't register properly until she experienced a small falling sensation and then the hard floor beneath her as she made contact with it. "Ouch!" Hikari's handcuffed wrists made it impossible to rub her backside, so she stood up while aching in a few places. "Couldn't you have just splashed me with the water or something?" She was moody and the rude awakening didn't help, nor did the two men standing outside the cell wearing tinted motorbike helmets over their heads.

"Miss Shimizu, we need you to step out of the cell for a couple of minutes." One of the men outside the cell told her.

"No." Hikari didn't like the tone of his voice and backed away to the far wall, not going anywhere near the bars.

Raito stood in front of her. "What are you going to do to her? Isn't it bad enough to have locked us in here?"

"Miss Shimizu isn't going to be harmed. There have been orders by Near to have her blindfolded."

The other man was talking this time and both held out their guns, motioning Raito to move out of the way and into the other corner. Hikari felt that these men weren't part of the NPA because she didn't think any of the policemen there would effortlessly raise their weapons at someone else who was unarmed. The cell was unlocked and while one kept their eye on Raito, the other entered and strode towards her with something in his hand which she didn't recognise.

He lifted it up for her to take a proper look at it. "This is going to be your blindfold." It looked more like some metal headgear than a blindfold and Hikari could see there was a lock of some sort on it as well. "This will go on your head. The eyes are padded for comfort and your ears will also be covered so that you won't be able to hear a single thing. There is a lock on the back to prevent either one of you from taking it off. This blindfold is going to stay on indefinitely, as Near ordered. You won't be able to hurt anyone ever again."

"Hey! You can't do that to her!"

"We can, this is a precautionary method…" The rest of what the man said could not be heard by Hikari as soon as the blindfold was placed on her and everything turned to darkness as well.

Whoever made the piece of metal was good at their work because no sound entered and even though she knew she was inside a cell, everything became disorientated very quickly. Hikari flinched when feeling a hand on her shoulder and then cheek but the stroking movements calmed her down. She figured it was just Raito trying to comfort her. If she thought she was going crazy in only four days of being in the cell, now with two senses removed, she might completely lose her sanity. What she wanted more in the world, more than either Raito or Teru being beside her, was her shinigami Ankh. Hikari was scared of what measures he would take when finding out what had become of her in this short amount of time.

Fingers were on her mouth, trying to pry her lips opened and when she did so, a spoon entered. She could taste soup which seemed to have already been cooled to try and not burn her tongue. The last thing she needed was to lose another of her senses. After being fed, Hikari tried to move around to her bed. Not being able to have a normal conversation, she didn't feel like talking and decided to sleep, knowing that Raito would wake her up when it was time for their next meal. She wondered how he was feeling. Although he was able to see and hear, not having anyone to talk to might also have an effect on him. He was strong and somehow she knew if she didn't make it, he would.

* * *

23rd July 2012 (Day 20)

"What are you doing here?" Near asked as he stacked dice to look like the buildings around the area he was currently living in.

Behind him Mello sneered at the human guard dog, who was always beside the albino and was reaching for the gun on his hip. "You're security system leaves something to be desired."

"What do you want?" The child-like genius teenager didn't bother looking up and carried on playing with the dice.

The blond didn't say anything to begin with and walked towards the screens which showed the camera footage of the cell where Hikari and Raito were held captive. After staring at the images of the blindfolded lady who had helped him when he needed it, Mello turned to Near wanting to kick over and scatter the little cubes. "The killings have been carrying on for the last few days, how long are you going to keep them locked up?"

"I've been told that when a name is written in the Death Note, there is a gap of 23 days until the victim has to die." Near looked up at Rem, but Mello wasn't able to see anything and couldn't tell what he was doing. After nodding, he continued. "It is quite possible that either Mr Yagami or Miss Shimizu had a list of names in the Death Note just in case something like this happened to them."

"Even if what you are saying is true, you have no proof." Mello's gaze went back to the screens. This time he was watching Raito feed Hikari. "What if the killings continue? You can't keep them in there forever."

"Do you remember the pain you felt after hearing about L's death Mello?" Near's voice was still as a monotone but an indescribable emotion also could be heard in it. "One of them killed him. Would you be willing to let them free, with or _without_ evidence?"

"L wouldn't do something like this."

The albino flicked a bottom die with his finger and it brought all the dice crashing down to the ground. "That's where you're wrong. He would do everything in his power to bring justice." Near went over to the screens and switched them off. "They will stay in the cell for 30 more days. If the killings are still happening we will let them go under the pretence that they're innocent. We will keep close surveillance on them until a mistake is made."

Mello let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine. By the way, I search the apartment like you asked and found a secret compartment but nothing was inside. If there was anything in there, it isn't anymore."

"Agent Gevanni, I would like to hear your report on Mr Mikami now."

"Yes." The SPK member stepped forward after just entering the room. "So far he has done nothing out of the ordinary. He still goes to work and was able to organise short-term leave for Miss Shimizu. If she is released, it is quite possible that she could return to work with no suspicion." Stephen looked at his watch briefly before continuing. "At around this time every day he goes to the gym to work out for exactly an hour, showers in ten minutes, before going straight home. I was able to hack into the gym's system and found out that he has been a member there for years, since around the time that Kira first made an appearance."

Near nodded at the information given to him, thinking it over. "Is there anything else?"

"Mr Mikami always has a briefcase on him. The only time I've ever seen him without it is when he is doing his work out in the gym."

"Right, if there were to be anything useful to us, it would be in there." He sat down in a swivel chair with one leg hanging over the side and started twirling a strand of hair around his finger. "I want you to look at what is in that briefcase."

* * *

24th July 2012

"The agent who has been following you for the last week is in the locker room right now." Ankh said after walking through the wall to get to Teru.

Ryuk sighed. "Why'd you have to tell him everything? It would be much more interesting if you stayed on the side-lines Ankh."

"I'm more annoyed that this is ruining my routine." Teru muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow with the towel around his neck. "I'm going straight home after this, so don't bother staying." He went back into the locker room just in time to see the dark haired American taking out his briefcase. "What are you doing?"

Stephen jumped at the sudden intrusion of noise, having been sure that he hadn't heard anyone entering. Keeping quiet, he placed the briefcase back into the locker and stood. His hand twitched, wanting to hold onto the gun which was hidden behind him. Unsure of what to make of this new situation, he stayed still. There was no way he was going to be able to look in the briefcase now, but what confused him was why Teru decided for this day to break his obsessively strict schedule.

"Who are you?" Teru tried again to get the man to talk, this time speaking in English which was a language he wasn't familiar with but still knew enough to have a decent conversation, if this guy was feeling chatty. There was no reply, which was expected. It was lucky for him that he already knew the answer thanks to all the help from Ankh. "You work for Near don't you? How is Hikari?"

"I'm not at liberty to say anything."

"Have it your way then." He walked past the agent to his locker and reached down to pick up the briefcase. Opening it in front of the man, he showed how there were only confidential work files which filled it. "I don't own or have in possession any Death Note. You should leave Hikari out of this business as well because she is innocent."

"What about Mr Yagami? Do you think he is also innocent?" Stephen walked to the door, readying to leave since he was shown everything he came for.

Teru laughed bitterly. "I want nothing to do with that man." He grabbed a clean towel, on his way to the showers. "If you're not satisfied, feel free to look through the rest of my belongings, I assure you there won't be anything to find there."

Stephen didn't take the offer and just left. The last thing Teru saw him do was pull out his cell phone.

Right then would've been a great opportunity to let Near know exactly how Raito was involved, but there was one thought that stopped him from doing so. _Kira_ could easily bring Hikari down with him and it was her crime which was probably worse in the eyes of the genius teenager. He sighed heavily, leaning against the tiled wall as water from the showerhead ran down his body. It was starting to become too much for him to handle and if it wasn't for the gratification of writing down name after name each night, he was sure he would've already gone insane. How was Hikari doing? Was she any better off than him? Teru shook his head. It was hard being away from her but soon Near wouldn't have anything to keep Hikari or Raito locked up and he would be able to continue with his plan.

* * *

3rd August 2012 (Day 31)

It was hard for Raito to be so close to the shinigami which despised him. Not only could he not interact with Ankh but he had to also pretend nothing out of the ordinary was happening, even with the shocking news which he was hearing. Hikari was still blindfolded and at night he started embracing her because there would be times where she shivered uncontrollably. At first he would talk to her but it was difficult having a one-way conversation and gave up. Raito would always be touching her, whether it was a gentle grasp of her hand or rubbing her back in a comforting manner. It pleased him that she stopped flinching every time he did.

"Teru has both Death Notes and he has been killing relentlessly for the last two weeks." Ankh had his bony hand on Hikari's head but she gave no indication of knowing it was there. "He has changed and I think he is no longer the man he once was."

He coughed to hide the laugh he wanted to release. _No longer the man she fell in love with_. It was probably hard for the shinigami to admit such a thing out loud in front of him.

Suddenly Hikari grabbed onto Raito. It shocked him to the point where he yelled out in surprise. "What is it?" Asking was useless but for a split second he thought that she might've been able to hear him.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out of it. Reaching out for his hand, she held the palm upwards and began writing a word with her forefinger.

_A-n-k-h_. "Yes." He said aloud, again forgetting that she couldn't hear him. Placing his hands on her cheeks, Raito moved her head so it was nodding.

Hikari smiled widely. It was the first time he had seen it like that since they came to the cell. A door opened and two people with the same motorbike helmets entered the room, each holding a tray of food. He couldn't tell if they were the same ones who came in to give them their food every other time but as long as they didn't speak, it didn't matter. More soup, Raito knew that when they got out of here, he was not going to touch the stuff ever again.

"Dinner time Hikari." He noticed that Ankh had left, probably satisfied with how Hikari felt his presence. Touching her lips, it wasn't long until she opened her mouth and he was able to place a spoon fill in. Raito laughed at the way she grimaced at the taste, obviously sick of the soup as well. "I wonder how much longer we will have to put up with this." With that he carried on with the feeding her before getting his own stomach filled.

* * *

22nd August 2012 (Day 50)

She didn't know where they were headed. Everything happened abruptly. Hands roughly lifted her up and Hikari would trip as they ascended the stairs as such a fast rate only to be pulled back. The back of her head had been pushed downwards and the insides of a car could be felt as her cuffed hands moved along the seat. She still couldn't see or hear anything, but when someone reached over and grabbed her hands, she knew it was Raito. It helped calm her rapidly beating heart, knowing that he was coming along too.

The drive lasted a long time. It seemed to be as long as an hour but because her sense of time had long ago been distorted it could've been shorter or longer. She knew the car stopped when the momentum moved her forward a little bit and it wasn't long after when someone was pulling her out of the vehicle. She was being pushed again to move forward. What was happening? Where were they being taken? How many days had gone by? There were many more questions she had which she hoped would get answered for her.

The loosening of the blindfold surprised her and the intense light which followed had blinded her again. Was she finally going to be free? It was confirmed to some degree when the handcuffs around her wrists also fell away. This time Hikari slowly opened her eyes, keeping them squinted to get use to the brighter surroundings. She could see small bruises around her wrists from where the handcuffs had been all this time. Finally, being able to fully open her eyes, she looked around the area.

The room itself was unfamiliar but she could see some security footage on one of the further sets of screens. The images on it resembled the cell which she and Raito were last in. There were many people standing around her, all of them wearing tinted motorbike helmets. Hikari recognised the trench coat that belonged to Teru and unconsciously smiled at the thought of seeing him again. Three shinigami also stood off to the side. The person in the middle was sitting in a half crouch on a chair and his white pyjamas made it easy to identify who it was.

Near raised his arms and took off the helmet, shaking his head of messy hair when it came off. "Hello Miss Shimizu and Mr Yagami. We meet again."


	20. Delete

**A/N: **I'm getting much better with these updates. :) There are only a couple more chapters to go on this story. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 17

22nd August 2012

_Innocent? Really? _It seemed too good to be true. Hikari was constantly looking behind her to see if anyone was following the car as Teru drove them back to their apartment. Was Near really letting her go after suspecting her for having the shinigami eyes? When reaching the apartment, she gave a sigh of relief to be in recognisable surroundings again. Hikari only let go of his trench coat when it was absolutely necessary, she then held onto Ankh's hand as she walked around the place. Nothing much changed in the 50 days she spent in the cell as she got familiar with everything again.

"You're home. Back where you belong." Teru wrapped his arms around her from behind as she stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

She leaned away from him when he went to kiss her on the cheek. "Don't get so close to me." She only registered to the words she spoke when seeing the hurt look in his eyes. "I need a shower, I probably smell horrible."

"Okay, I'll get it ready for you."

It didn't take long for the water to heat up and for Hikari to get under it. The water felt nice and soothing against her skin and she couldn't wait until she was all clean again. Maybe the awful time she spent in the cell would also wash away down the drain. The sponge she was using the clean her body was taken out of her hand and started moving on its own accord. Lips on her shoulder told her it was Teru and she was too relaxed to move out of the way.

"What are you doing?"

A hand rested on her stomach and Teru pulled her back against his chest. "I haven't seen you in a while. I'm glad that I will no longer be sleeping alone."

Hikari turned around and welcomed his kiss. She'd missed him, she'd missed it all. Since she had spent a long time in the cell, she wasn't able to tell if he was purposely holding back or if something about him changed. The way he looked down at her made her feel a little discomfort. Both Death Notes were in his possession, she knew that, but she hoped now after being released that he would stop using the one which worked and just give them back to Raito. He turned off the water and used a towel to dry her as she stood there silently contemplating whether to bring up the subject or not.

"Where are the Death Notes?" She had to ask and involuntarily flinched when feeling him kiss her shoulder again.

"Don't worry I've hidden them. They will never be used by anyone again." Teru was in front of her and after drying himself off, he held out a hand for her to hold. "I was scared that you were going to change after being around Yagami for a long time." He smiled back at her when taking them to the bedroom. "You haven't."

"I felt like I was going to go crazy in there. I never want to experience something like that again." She stopped him from turning off the lights. "Please leave them on. I can't handle being in darkness." Her voice was shaking, evidence of how traumatic wearing the blindfold had been.

"Don't worry. I will make you forget everything." Teru pushed her onto the bed with some new found dominance she hadn't experienced from him before. "You will only know how to say my name."

"Teru…" Hikari moaned out his name as he sucked the supple skin of her neck. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling at it when their lips met again. It was hard to keep her eyes opened. Whenever they were closed all she could see was a dark void and then Raito would appear. She clung to him desperately, wondering whether this wasn't actually happening and she was just dreaming.

After the intimate act between them, they were left lying next to each other and taking in deep breaths of air to try evening out their breath. Teru held her to his chest and started stroking her hair. "You don't need to be afraid anymore. I will always be here for you."

_I know_. Being too tired to keep her eyes opened, they closed by themselves. Her last thought was of Teru and whether he was the same man she knew before becoming imprisoned.

* * *

26th August 2012

Hikari woke up feeling uneasy. Instead of the light being on in the bedroom, they had bought a lamp for her side of the bed. It may have been small but it was still able to make everything clear. She reached over to where Teru was lying, only to find that there wasn't anyone sleeping of the other side of the bed. _Where is he?_ Sitting up, she saw Ankh standing in the corner of the room. He beckoned her with a finger and she stood to follow him out of the room.

"Where are you taking me Ankh?" She reached out for him, but he disappeared when they reached the doorway to the spare room which was turned into a study.

The scratching of pen on paper could be faintly heard on the other side of the door. Hikari placed her ear against it and was able to hear one word getting repeated. "Delete… delete… delete…"

_What is he doing?_ She tried to open the door, expecting it to be locked, but it wasn't. Hikari slowly pushed it forward, trying not to make any noise. Teru was sitting at a desk with his back to her and the only light source was another lamp, similar to the one in the bedroom. She crept closer to him until she was able to see that he was writing down names into a notebook. _The Death Note?_ With each name written, he would say 'delete'. Teru was so consumed with it that he didn't react until the Death Note was lifted out of his grasp.

"Wha-" He reached for it but she backed away from him.

"Y-you lied to me!" Hikari flipped through the pages from beginning to end. There was a change in the style from how Raito wrote in it, to Teru's neatly lined pages. "What happened to it never being used by anyone again?"

"Hikari, it's not what you think?" Teru tried to get closer to her but Ankh stood in-between them. "This is for the greater good of the world. Raito had the right idea. He just went about it the wrong way."

"The wrong way?" She repeated. "How is this any different? What meaning does your job have if you are just killing people off with this?"

"I can do a much better job than Raito. I can be a better Kira."

She shook her head, tears forming and falling down her cheeks. "I never wanted this. Why do you think I left him? The Death Note changes people who use it too often, it has already changed you." Staring at the book in her hand, she was still shocked at what she just found out. "I should hide this from you."

"No! You can't do that. I _need _the Death Note." His voice cracked when shouting the first word. "I know your secret. I'm sure you don't want Near to find out the truth, right?"

"Would you really tell him?" Hikari asked even though she already knew the answer. There was no way to save him anymore. "It doesn't have to be like this Teru."

"You shouldn't act so innocent. You've also used the Death Note many times." Teru considered moving around the shinigami but thought against it when he saw the skeletal hand reach for his own Death Note. "Just admit that you still have feelings for Yagami and you think he is more deserving of being Kira."

She shook her head silently. _It's not about who is more deserving of being Kira_.There was no reply for him, none which he would listen to. She wasn't even capable of thinking for herself at the moment. With Raito, Hikari never knew him properly before he owned a Death Note. There were no surprises for how he acted but there were always times where she thought he was kind to her out of his own volition and not as some sort of manipulation. Having known Teru since before he ever laid his hands on the notebook, this person in front of her, she had no idea who he was.

"Ankh, move out of the way please."

The shinigami looked back at her. "I don't think that is wise."

"I'm going to give him a choice." _Find out how he really feels_. Hikari took off the engagement ring and balanced it on the flat surface of the Death Note. She held it out to him as well as her other empty hand. "If you choose the Death Note, our engagement is over. If you truly love m-" She was cut off when Teru grabbed the notebook. The ring fell to the ground, not even thought of. "I see." She tried to stop the way her voice choked up with her sobbing and left the study.

As she closed the door behind her, his mantra had already started again. "Delete… delete… delete."

* * *

27th August 2012

Hikari walked into the crowded café, scanning the area until she found the person she was meeting up with. She had chosen a place where they would be surrounded by many people because even if they were being followed, being in here would make it hard to be overheard when starting their conversation with the many other people chatting away. Raito was by himself and she sat beside him instead of opposite, this way they wouldn't need to raise their voices in order to hear the other.

"Thank you for meeting up with me." She smiled at him.

"When Ankh entered my apartment last night I knew it would be important. I couldn't refuse." He returned the grin but his eyes darkened when spotting something she was trying to cover on her neck. "I see he wasted no time in marking his territory."

"It happened a few days ago. As of yesterday," she showed him her left hand where there no longer was a ring. "I am no longer his _territory_." It wasn't as if she belonged to him in the first place.

Raito placed a comforting arm around her without saying anything as she broke down in tears, no longer able to keep up the happy charade. If he were to speak words like 'it will get better' or 'I'm sure he is just not thinking right', he would be lying. On the inside he was glad and couldn't be any happier at the turn of events. "Is this why you wanted to meet with me?"

"N-no." Hikari wiped her eyes and looked around the café for anyone suspicious. She couldn't see anyone specific but still leaned in close to him so her lips would brush against his ear as she spoke. "Teru has both Death Notes and is unwilling to give them up."

"I thought that was the case." He nodded his head, thinking of a way to turn the tables on Teru in more ways than one. "Is there any way you would be able steal the Death Notes back from him?" He reached for her hand and intertwined their fingers, partially surprised when she didn't pull away. There was no way he would fault whatever change Teru had made if it was bringing Hikari closer to him.

"I-I don't know. I tried going in there this morning when he left for work b-but it was locked." She tightened her grip on his hand and even when he visibly winced, she didn't let go. "I'm scared that he is going to do something to damage the notebooks. What if he burns them and we never see Ankh or Ryuk again?"

Ryuk gave a crazed laugh. "Did you hear that Ankh? She cares about me." The other shinigami just ignored him.

"He wouldn't do that because he needs them."

Hikari shook her head. "He doesn't need your Death Note. What if you forget everything? I wouldn't be able to deal with this alone." Another sob left her and he placed her head in the crook of his neck, stroking her hair which she left down for the day.

"Even if he destroys my Death Note, I won't forget anything." Raito gave a reassuring smile even though she wasn't able to see it. She pulled away, a silent question in her eyes. "As long as I'm touching a piece of my Death Note, I won't forget anything." He lifted up his watch where the back of the face had a scrap of the Death Note stuck to it. He must've kept some torn pages hidden.

"What are we going to do?" She whispered hopelessly.

His hand went to her cheek and he stared into her eyes. "Everything is going to be fine. I will make sure it all works out."

"Will it really?"

"Yes." Before she was able to protest, he kissed her.

Whether it was because she was desperate for comfort or all rational thought left her, he didn't complain. Both of her hands grabbed onto his work shirt to the point where he knew it was going to be crinkled later. Raito was going to deepen the kiss but they heard someone clearing their throat from behind them. Turning around they saw a stern looking mother covering the eyes of her two young children sitting either side of her. After giving a quick apology with diverted eyes, they decided to leave the café. Once out in the open, Hikari gave in to a giggle. It was the first time she'd smiled so freely since the night of finding out Teru's changed nature.

"Thank you Raito." She gave his hand a squeeze before letting go, leaving him alone on the pathway as she made her way back home with Ankh.

Raito waited until she was out of sight before getting into the back of a parked car. "You can take me to Near now."

* * *

"Near, Mr Yagami has arrived with Agent Gevanni. They are on their way up as I speak." Anthony said.

The albino didn't say anything or stopped playing with his toy robot. He had already been told earlier about how the former imprisoned pair met up briefly. Stephen called him saying he wasn't able to get close enough to hear their conversation but Raito previously agreed to inform them about it since he had been under watch for the last few days. Rem stood beside him, watching over what he was doing. As the doors opened to reveal the two men, Near pressed a button on the toy robot's arm and a plastic arrow fired in their direction, hitting Raito lightly on the leg.

"What can you tell me?"

"Just like I told you when released, Hikari confirmed now that Mikami has both Death Notes and has been the one using them to kill criminals." Raito smirked since the child-like genius hadn't believed him before.

"Is that so?" He twirled a strand of hair around his finger. "We're going to need to get them from him then."

"Do you want me to break in? I doubt Miss Shimizu would be willing to help us since she is engaged to the man." Stephen gave his input but stepped back when Near stood to go to his chair.

Raito snorted and gave no explanation as to why. "I have an idea." He mentioned. "You probably won't agree with the method, but it will get you both Death Notes."

"What do you propose we do?" Near held onto Rem's hand when she went over to him. It was as if she were a mother wanting to reassure her child. "I'm almost willing to do anything to get the Death Notes. No more people need to die."

"If you're willing to have one more death, my idea would work."

"What is it?" He stopped all his actions, interesting in what the younger Yagami was going to suggest.

"This requires me to disclose some important details. I want a guarantee of protection for both Hikari and I." Raito picked up the plastic arrow on the ground and walked up to the boy, giving it to him. "You won't pursue us as suspects anymore and will leave us alone when all of it is over."

Near tilted his head to the side. "I can't do that."

Raito crossed his arms. "Do you want the Death Notes or not?"

"Are you admitting to being the previous Kira?" When he wasn't given a reply, he looked over at Anthony for help. After receiving a nod, he continued. "Okay, it is guaranteed. You have my word."

Raito contemplated whether Near's _word_ was reliable or not. "Fine. With the Death Note you're able to control the actions of your victims for 23 days, within some limits. I could write in it actions for Mikami to obey, supervised by you of course, and at the end of the time have him bring both Death Notes to a specific location. Then he will have to die."

"Why will you write in it and not me?" Near asked, he fingered the pure white Death Note on the table. "I own it, don't I?"

"I've been told by my shinigami that someone who writes in the Death Note can neither go to Heaven or Hell. Since I've already done so, it would be safer for me to continue instead of risking your afterlife. Not that I care what happens to you."

"Why use up all 23 days?" The albino had a lot more question but just asked a few. It didn't matter how it happened as long as the end result was the same.

"Although their engagement is now finished, I think Hikari still has feelings for Mikami. She will know exactly what has happened when she sees him next."

"Because it's true she has the shinigami eyes…" Near slowly pieced together the facts which before now were only said by Rem.

"…Yes." Raito's eyes narrowed, hoping that Near was going to keep his promise. "She will then have time to get use to the idea of his death."

"Okay, I suppose you're going to need a pen…"

* * *

When Teru arrived at the apartment, Hikari planned on ignoring him. She was with Ankh in the living area, playing a game of cards. It surprised her when he went to sit down on the couch beside her. Normally it would be straight into the study to write down exactly two pages worth of names of criminals to be killed off. After she found out he made no effort to hide what he was doing. Instinctively she jumped as his arms wrapped around her middle. He felt for her hand and pulled away.

"Why aren't you wearing your engagement ring?"

"What are you talking about?" This time she couldn't ignore him because he was acting so strangely. "You chose the Death Note over me remember?"

"Yes… but you put it back on didn't you? I thought you would never leave me." Teru sighed and leaned back against the couch. "I feel like I should be doing something right now, but I can't remember what it was."

The more time that passed, the weirder she thought this situation was getting. She had no plans to remind him what he usually did. Hikari took a good long hard look at the man beside her, wondering what about him had changed back from his Death Note maniac ways. She had come to accept he would never be the same again, but this turn of events just succeeded in confusing her. It took a while before she noticed that the numbers above his head had changed drastically. As she decoded them, her eyes widened and she stood up to get away from him. He had less than 23 days to live. How did it happen?

"Where are you going? What's wrong?" Teru knocked on the bedroom door she closed. "How about we go out for dinner tonight? I know I've been neglecting you, I want to make up for it."

"I… I'm not feeling well."

"Oh, okay. Get some rest then."

Hikari decided to do just that. The only explanation that she could come up with was someone put his name into the Death Note. Which one? He wouldn't have done it to himself and the only one on Earth that she knew of was Near's. Was it him? She didn't think he was that knowledgeable when it came to the rules._ Everything is going to be fine. I will make sure it all works out_. It was what Raito told her. Was this his doing? The more she thought about it the more it hurt her mind. Teru didn't have to die or did he? Ankh disappeared soon after Teru's arrival, obviously already knowing what happened and probably out there finding her answers. Something was going to happen in 23 days and Hikari was only certain of one thing: Teru was going to die.


	21. The Ending of Kira's Reign

**A/N: **Thanks to _**Awen Sofer** _for beta'ing this chapter. This is the 'final' chapter but there will be an epilogue after this. Enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - 18

13th September 2012

"How has Mikami been acting?" Raito asked while setting down two cups of coffee he'd made.

They were at his apartment. The rest of the taskforce had stopped using this place for their operations and moved to Near's massive building. Everything came out in the open after Raito went to Near and wrote the instructions of how Teru was going to spend his last 23 days. His father was shocked and they currently weren't speaking. Because their main priority was to get the Death Notes from Teru, she or Raito hadn't been arrested yet but she didn't have a clue about his arrangement with Near.

Hikari let out a frustrated sigh. "Ever since he came home from work, he hasn't gone back once. Teru speaks and moves, but you turned him into a shell. He is a puppet. How come you don't want me to get the Death Notes from him? I could easily persuade him to give me the key to the study in the state he's in."

"It's all been planned out." He placed a hand on hers, squeezing it gently. "In five days' time, we are going to a place called the Yellow Box. After that day, you won't need to be afraid again."

"H-how is he going to die?" She whispered it, half not wanting to know the answer.

"A heart attack, I tried to make it as painless as possible." Raito tried to reassure her. "We will be free when all this is over. We can move away from this place and start afresh."

Hikari smiled a little at how unreal his statement sounded. "What makes you think that Near won't come after us when Teru is dealt with? I'm sure he has a lifelong grudge against Kira."

"Do you trust me?" He knelt down on the ground below her as if he were about to propose. It was the first time she'd seen him get lower than anyone else by choice because he always liked to be the one to look down on someone. "I got another ring made even though you didn't want me to." He went into his bedroom and came out holding a black velvet ring box. Opening it while kneeling in front of her again, he asked Hikari the same question. "Do you trust me?"

"No." She didn't hesitate in answering. "The only one I can afford to trust is Ankh. I don't want to trust anyone again until all this Kira business is done."

Raito knew the consequences of what was going to happen in five days. He had accepted it but he knew there was no way Hikari should find out or else she would do everything in her power to stop it. Dusting himself off and laughing, he placed the ring on the table, keeping it in her sight, before sitting on the couch. "I'm sure Near will make it so Kira won't exist anymore and when that time comes, you will be mine. You won't be able to stay away from me."

For a second she could see the old Kira in him. The one she tried to run away from and the one which pushed her into killing L. Hikari had once accepted everything there was about him _and_ Kira, but she couldn't bring herself to fully do it another time. "That is up to me to decide." When she tried to stand, he placed his hands on each thigh, keeping her in place.

"I talked to your parents the other day." He leaned forward until his breath was on her ear. "You haven't contacted them in a long time. They are happy to hear that we're getting back together."

"I never agreed to any of that!"

Raito kissed her cheek. "I know that you're feeling resistant right now, so I'll give you some time to think it over." He pulled Hikari to her feet, she was too angry to do anything about it. "Remember to be ready in five days. We'll go to the Yellow Box together."

* * *

18th September 2012

Hikari could feel herself sweating profusely even though she wasn't partaking in any physical activity. Her hands were constantly being wiped on her jeans but didn't seem to get dry at all. Raito was beside her, driving the car. She was glad he was here at least, because if it were her in the driver's seat she probably would've already caused a crash or two with how nervous she was feeling. They parked behind a large warehouse which he pointed out as the _Yellow Box_. She was expecting something much different. There was no yellow in sight, unless the sun counted but that was more of a golden glow.

She heard the car door open and turned to see Raito holding out his hand for her. "Come on, it will all be over after today." Hikari wiped her hand a final time before accepting his.

He kept a hand on her lower back as they walked towards and into the warehouse. Near, his agents and the taskforce members were already inside. All that was left to do was wait for Teru to arrive. Both shinigami would be coming along with him as well as the Death Notes, a usable one and a useless one. The sound of a car door slamming brought everyone rigid again as they had begun the slouch as time passed. Footsteps echoed around them and all eyes went to the only entrance.

Teru opened the sliding metallic door and entered, not bothering to close it again. The shinigami followed him and Hikari's features brightened at the sight of Ankh. The criminal prosecutor walked straight up to Near and took out of his briefcase two black notebooks. As he was opening his briefcase everyone who had a gun quickly placed their hand on them, but there was no actual threat. If the Death Note truly worked then Teru wasn't going to be harmful, only harmed.

"For some reason I feel the need to give you these. Hopefully you can finally bring Kira to justice."

_Does he even know what he is saying?_ Hikari thought to herself. Teru stepped away from Near and the albino passed around the Death Notes so that everyone else in the room could see the shinigami. There were now three standing in the room and even though they were outnumbered by humans, a lot of the taskforce members were still wary. In a way, their lives were never going to change back to a time when they were ignorant of the lanky monsters.

Everything was silent and no one said a word. Breaths of various people could be heard and even Ryuk didn't dare to break the quiet atmosphere. A sudden coughing came from Teru and he dropped to the ground, clutching his chest. Hikari rushed to him as soon as she saw it while everyone else seemed to take a step back as if it was going to be contagious. Just because she'd known his death was going to happen didn't make it any easier to watch.

"It's okay, everything will be okay." Hikari lied knowing the exact opposite was the truth. For him, nothing was going to be okay again.

Tears fell from her eyes onto his face and in his last moments he reached for her. "Th-thank y…" He wasn't even able to finish the last word before he closed his eyes, no longer in this world.

Hikari cried out, both Aizawa and Matsuda had to try and pull her away from the dead body. "Let him go, he's gone." The former of the two said in an almost expressionless voice. He'd be lying if what he witnessed didn't affect him a little bit.

"N-no! Just leave me here with him."

"Do as she says." Near's monotone voice rang out throughout the warehouse. "I will be destroying all of the Death Notes including my own."

She looked up from the face of the man in her arms. "What? You can't be serious?" She wanted to convince him it wasn't necessary but knew that it wouldn't change the outcome. "There has to be another way. Destroying them won't fix the problem. A Death Note will always plague this world no matter what you do with these ones."

"I disagree." He held his hand out and the blond agent placed a lighter in it. A few tries it took him to flick it for a flame to appear. Slowly he brought it closer to the black notebook which had strange symbols on the cover.

"Wait!" Hikari shouted and instantly let go of Teru, running to her shinigami. Hugging him close to her, she buried her face into his exposed scaly chest.

If this action surprised everyone, when Ankh's arms went around the lady in a protective hug, none of them knew what to think. "Do not worry about me."

She turned around and stared at the albino, her eyes were glistening with the rest of her unshed tears. "You can't destroy it, please! I don't want to forget about Ankh."

The shinigami turned her back around to face him. "I can make it so you remember everything. I am willing to break the rules to make it happen."

"Don't be an idiot Ankh." It was Rem who spoke in a raspy voice, making everyone remember her presence since she usually stayed silent unless Near asked for her input. "No matter how much you care about her, or how much _she_ cared. The end consequences will not be worth it."

"I don't care. I will risk everything and anything for Hikari. I am her shinigami for a reason."

"No! It would hurt me too much knowing I would never see you again. Just like when you were taken away from me before, this time would also be my fault. You would surely get punished again and even more severely. It would worry me." Hikari took a shaky breath, looking up into his eyes which were on either side of his face. "I want to say that I will never forget you, but we both know that won't be true."

"I will always follow you." Ankh didn't say anything else and tried the best he could with this skeletal fingers to wipe away her tears.

She shook her head, making the shinigami's task harder. "You can't. I won't have a Death Note and you won't have a reason to stay."

"I will find a way." Hikari could no longer find any words to say and just kept silently crying. Raito tried to get near her but Ankh gave him a glare, one which promised a certain death if he got any closer. "Even shinigami rules can't keep me away from you. I will find a loophole."

Ryuk laughed at the scene of the shinigami and the pet before him. "I hope you don't expect any sappy words out of me Raito." He put a hand on the human's head and ruffled it with an imperceptible move. "Know that when your time is up, I will be close by and writing your name in my Death Note." Laughing to himself again he added. "Looks like I will be winning both bets, too bad you won't know me to give me my prize."

"Are you done?" Near asked, getting a bit impatient. He couldn't understand the relationship between Hikari and the shinigami named Ankh. He was a monster.

She nodded her head once and kept on holding onto Ankh. Even if she wasn't going to remember him or be able to see him, he would still be there. The flame of the lighter touched the Death Note and it took a while for the notebook to catch alight. Without looking behind her to see what was happening to the book she knew it had almost disintegrated because before her eyes the shinigami was disappearing. Seconds after the Death Note turned to ash Hikari passed out, but something caught her before she made contact with the ground.

* * *

19th September 2012

Hikari woke up with a massive headache. Her sight was blurred and when reaching to the side, she noticed that she was in an unfamiliar place. This was not the apartment she shared with Teru. With the disinfectant smell, she was able to identify that she was in a hospital. What happened for her to end up here and why couldn't she remember anything? If she was stuck in a hospital bed, where was Teru? Panicking, she tried to get out but tripped over the sheet into a firm chest.

"Teru?" Whoever it was didn't answer and only placed an object which felt like her glasses in her hand. Putting them on she instantly could tell her guess had been wrong when she saw perfectly positioned brown hair. "Raito… what are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you're doing." He held out a glass of water with a couple of painkillers. "Have this. It should help with your headache. I had one as well when I woke up."

"What happened? Where's Teru? Did something bad happen to him?" Whenever she tried to think back, she only saw fuzzy scenes. Hardly any were picture clear. She couldn't stop the dread entering her heart with a feeling she was right.

Raito pushed her down into a sitting position and sat next to her on the bed, holding her hands in his. "We both passed out and wouldn't wake up… I was told that Teru died of a heart attack. Apparently it was sudden and he didn't suffer for long."

"A heart attack? But how is that possible?" Hikari didn't want to believe what she was hearing. Something more must've been involved. "He always went to the gym and was quite health conscious."

"It doesn't make sense to me either."

"What am I supposed to do now?" She looked at him as if he had an answer. "I need to organise the funeral, pack up his belongings in the apartment. Where am I going to live? I don't think he even wrote a will."

Raito hugged her to him. "Don't worry. Everything will work out. You just need to put your trust in me."

* * *

**A/N: **I will be planning a prequel based around Ankh and how he got Hikari's Death Note. I just want to know who would be willing to read it. :) Thanks. x


	22. I am Ankh

**A/N: **This is it! The end of the second part of the story (it has been just over a year since the beginning of SS!). It's a bit short but it is only an epilogue. The prequel will take a bit to plan, though I do have a rough draft of how it is going to be. I realised that I have yet to reveal Hikari's true last name so that will definitely be said in the prequel. Thank you to all the reviews, they've made me smile! Like always, enjoy! x

* * *

Amaterasu's Absolution - Epilogue

9th August 2013

"I'll be back tonight." Raito said at the front door before giving Hikari a quick kiss on the cheek.

She smiled up at him. "Dinner will be ready for when you come home."

"Don't work yourself too much today." He knelt down and pecked her protruding belly. "Don't give your mother such a hard time."

"Get going already, you don't want to be late." Hikari had to almost push him out of the door so that he would leave. Closing it behind him, she rested her back against it and gave a forlorn sigh. Adjusting her glasses with a hand, she removed herself from the door. "Dusting, I need to dust."

She wouldn't admit that whenever Raito left for work her mind would go back to her childhood memories. It happened whenever she was alone. They weren't as blurry as when she first woke up in the hospital but she always felt that something or someone was missing from them. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't for the life of her remember. Hikari knew whatever it was, it was important. But if it were really important then how come she couldn't picture it? Sighing again she went into the bedroom, where she would start the cleaning for the day. It was the only way to keep her mind occupied and not have it travelling back in time.

As soon as she entered the room, something felt strange. Nothing had moved from its original place but the air felt off, thicker almost. Thinking nothing of it since there were no obvious changes, Hikari went about straightening the covers on their bed when she noticed a sheet of paper was sitting in the middle of it. A small smile came across her feature as she thought it must've been Raito, leaving a note. He was always doing little things to make sure she always remembered him, it happened a lot more after she confessed about how there was something in her past she couldn't quite remember. He only told her to not worry about it.

Hikari picked up the piece of paper, which looked like it was torn from a notebook, but there was no writing on it. She continually turned it over as if something would suddenly appear on the surface. _That's strange_. She was reminded of the feeling she had when entering the room and quickly turned around. No one was here, or so she thought, but who would leave a blank notebook page lying around. It certainly hadn't been her and she doubt it would've been Raito when it had nothing on it. Her eyes came across something else, on the floor and in-between the doorframe. She went over to it and picked it up. This one was half the size of the blank piece of paper, but there were some characters written on it.

_Hello._

Quickly scanning the immediate area, there wasn't anything to show her who left this on the ground. It wasn't there before she entered the room, or was it? "H-hello..?" She didn't expect a reply but was almost hoping there would be, and then this mystery could be solved. There wasn't one but as she walked around the house another piece of white lined paper was found on the kitchen counter and she rushed for it when seeing how there was much more written on this one than the previous.

_There is a girl I know who does not remember who I am. I cannot tell you her name because if I write the characters on this, she will die._

_Die?_ Who would die from having their name written down on a piece of paper? Her day which she planned on using for cleaning had turned into a scavenger hunt to find more of these notes. The next one described how the girl looked like which sounded a lot like herself. She shook her head to remove the thought from her mind. If whoever this person was, was talking about was her, why not just write it directly instead of creating a whole story. Each note she found never had more than a couple of sentences on them. But the gap which she found them increased.

Hikari found herself smiling as she read them. Every one of them was told as a fond memory. All which coincidently reminded her of a part of her past, but she continued to ignore the feeling of familiarity as she now carried a handful of these notes around with her. The one she found on the shower's floor was much different from the rest. Not only was it splotched with excess water from the showers taken that morning but it held contempt in the words.

_She is with a boy I do not like and as much as I want to write his name down to kill him, it is not my job to do so. I can only hope that she sees through his act and can find true happiness once again._

"Who are you?" She couldn't help herself asking the question aloud.

Hikari wanted to know. Maybe instead of receiving notes they would be able to face each other and talk. She'd spent so much time wandering around the house that she knew there couldn't be any way for someone to be hiding unless they were able to predict her moves. Had the Invisible Man decided to take refuge in her house and this was his only means of communication? After another hour of searching for more notes, she came up with nothing. Realising what the time was, Raito would soon be home and she hadn't gotten any proper cleaning done. Amazed at how fast the hours went by she placed all of the notes on the small table in the dining room and went about cooking dinner.

* * *

"What are these?" Raito called from the dining room.

Hikari was too busy concentrating on what she was cooking that she hadn't even heard the front door open. "What are you talking about?"

He came in through the door holding up a couple of the notes she'd spent most of the day finding. "These, it doesn't look like your handwriting but did you write them?"

"Uhh… no." She talked while plating their dinner. "I found them around the house. Did you write them?"

"It wasn't me. There was also a black notebook left on the table, it had some strange symbols on the front of it. It is filled with writing. Did you buy it from the bookstore?"

"No…" _A notebook?_ The dinner was forgotten and she went to the dining room to see what he was talking about. There was a notebook just like he described. Picking it up, she could almost feel a chill go down her spine. This was something important, but why? She flipped through the pages and it was filled with writing just like Raito said. "Hmmm…" The front few pages appeared to have been ripped. _Coincidence?_ Going to the first page Hikari read the top line.

_I am Ankh. This is my story…_


End file.
